LECOM at Seton Hill Medical Student was Embedded with CDC Response Team
Max W. Jacobs, a fourth-year LECOM at Seton Hill medical student, always has been interested in the areas of infectious disease, public health, and disaster response. This penetrating interest led him to envision a career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Max W. Jacobs
Understandably, Jacobs was thrilled to be accepted into the Epidemiology Elective Program (EEP), an eight-week rotation available to fourth-year medical students who are interested in public health. It mirrors the format of one of the CDC flagship offerings, the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS), a two-year field training program for epidemiologists, clinicians, and veterinarians. Students are matched with a specific division, but they may be deployed into the field in certain situations. Jacobs’ rotation within the Influenza Division, part of the National Center for Immunizations and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), positioned him within the core of one of the seven centers that comprise the CDC. Known as Disease Detectives, the EIS places first responders into areas around the world that are experiencing the most pressing public health issues. The EIS is considered by many within the field as the most elite training that a public health professional can receive. Jacobs’ EEP cohort included 25 students from locales across the United States; and 19 of them were assigned to various divisions at the Atlanta headquarters. Jacobs’ orientation on January 13, 2020, would prove to be for him the start of an enlightening experience. As his team
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worked through the orientation, touring the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and learning about the CDC response to public health crises, the team shared their eagerness to be deployed during the rotation. Jacobs’ experience was to be further advanced. On the day before his orientation, the sequence for SARS-CoV-2 was published. The terms SARS-CoV-2 and COVID had not been coined at this point, but the group was well aware of the virus’ origins. One week later, as Jacobs was designing projects with his team in the Influenza Division, COVID-19 became the watchword of nearly every conversation. On January 20, 2020, the first case of COVID-19 in the United States was identified and one day later, the CDC activated the EOC response. By the end of the week, several of Jacobs’ EEP team were tasked to the EOC to assist in the response. “How quickly can you be on a plane to Chicago?” The question from his EIS leadership would place Jacobs into a whirlwind of medical training. Jacobs arrived at the hospital of “COVID-19 Patient #2” located in the Chicago suburbs. He worked with a team of CDC staff as well as with local and state health departments, including many current and former EIS officers. The epidemiologists rapidly developed a containment strategy by drawing upon their personal experiences with SARS, Ebola, Measles, and other disease outbreaks. “The group worked around-the-
