{"id":174677,"date":"2023-03-23T15:56:01","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T01:56:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=174677"},"modified":"2023-03-24T08:55:27","modified_gmt":"2023-03-24T18:55:27","slug":"cdc-director-talk-at-jabsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2023\/03\/23\/cdc-director-talk-at-jabsom\/","title":{"rendered":"Head of CDC<\/abbr> inspires future doctors at JABSOM<\/abbr>"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>
\"buenconsejo-lum
JABSOM<\/abbr> Interim Dean Lee Buenconsejo-Lum and CDC<\/abbr> Director Rochelle Walensky<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC<\/abbr>) Director Rochelle Walensky spoke to future doctors and faculty in a special forum at the University of Hawaiʻi<\/span> at M\u0101noa John A. Burns School of Medicine <\/a>(JABSOM<\/abbr>) during her visit to Hawaiʻi<\/span> in March.<\/p>\n

Walensky\u2019s talk touched on parallels between her role as head of the COVID-19 pandemic response and her first year as an internal medicine resident during the AIDS epidemic in the 1990s; dealing with biases of being a woman in medicine and academia; and lessons learned during her career.<\/p>\n

Motivated to fight diseases<\/h2>\n

As a child, Walensky always knew she wanted to become a physician and serve others, one patient at a time. However, she never anticipated that she would one day hold the title of former chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital, the teaching hospital of Harvard, be a prolific author of papers on the epidemiology of HIV<\/abbr> or become the 19th director to lead the CDC<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

\"Walensky
Walensky addresses the JABSOM<\/abbr> ʻohana<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“Embrace the pursuit” has been Walensky\u2019s guiding principle throughout her illustrious career. <\/p>\n

Describing her time as a first-year resident during the height of the AIDS<\/abbr> epidemic, Walensky said she felt helpless while admitting patients into the hospital that either had HIV<\/abbr> or were dying of AIDS<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

“All you could really offer was your hand, an ear to listen to and your heart (in place of) where many people had been stigmatized and their families had left them,” she said.<\/p>\n

But that all changed by the end of December 1995, when a cocktail of antiretroviral drugs was first FDA<\/abbr>-approved to combat the AIDS<\/abbr> epidemic.<\/p>\n

“It was a time where all of a sudden, one day people did not have hope and the next day you could give them some potential for life expectancy—and it was really remarkable!” Walensky said.<\/p>\n

Motivated and energized by how quickly science was changing, she “rushed toward the disease where very little was known, where people had been stigmatized and where the cost of antiretroviral therapy, at $15,000 a year, was too expensive for the populations that were contracting the disease.” <\/p>\n

“Those patients were the ones that shaped my career, ignited my passion for public health and ignited my passion for giving a voice to those that didn\u2019t really have a voice and for fighting diseases and disparities. And that is why I went into the field of infectious diseases,” Walensky said.<\/p>\n

She acknowledged how tough the past few years have been on everyone due to the Coronavirus pandemic, especially on healthcare workers, and that the U.S.<\/abbr> is in a better place since it started. <\/p>\n

“We have this incredible opportunity (in healthcare), this incredible gift that we get to do the work that we do and give back to people. Embrace that gift everyday,” Walensky said. “Have some grace and take the time to take care of yourself so that you can give back in full force.”<\/p>\n

Inspired medical student<\/h2>\n

As a second-year medical student finding himself pulled by many different interests including clinical care, health policy and public health, Anson Lee<\/strong> relished the fact that even Walensky did not go through medical school knowing the entire trajectory of her career.<\/p>\n

He was excited to be in the audience to hear from the director of the CDC<\/abbr>—a rare occasion for any medical school and a gem for JABSOM<\/abbr>.<\/p>\n

“For her to come to the ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> medical school, I think it\u2019s pretty crucial especially because we\u2019re in the middle of the Pacific, there\u2019s various patient populations here that you might not see on the continental U.S.<\/abbr> and so the fact that she\u2019s willing to speak with us here and trying to get a better perspective on the challenges that we\u2019re facing here in Hawaiʻi<\/span>—it\u2019s great,” Lee said.<\/p>\n

Read more on Walensky\u2019s talk at JABSOM<\/abbr> website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"researcher
Walensky tours JABSOM<\/abbr> and learns about faculty research.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CDC<\/abbr> Director Rochelle Walensky spoke to ÌÇÐÄVlog¹Ù·½<\/abbr> medical school students and faculty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[1411,31,1466,9],"class_list":["post-174677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-news","tag-covid-19","tag-john-a-burns-school-of-medicine","tag-manoa-enhancing-student-success","tag-uh-manoa","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=174677"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174677\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":174723,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/174677\/revisions\/174723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=174677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=174677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=174677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}