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the Man to Call when the Terror Is Real Continued from page 63 administer all of the vaccine? “Whether or not you should vaccinate all the children is an epidemiological issue, and modeling is used to help make this decision,” Dr. Washington explains. “My specific role is setting up the vaccination clinics and recommending the best way to get as many people vaccinated as possible.” “Until fifth grade,” he recalls, “I was not a high achiever. My family didn’t expect much. I don’t think anyone we knew went to college, and there wasn’t much to aspire to. I picked fruit every holiday and (during) summers.” Then there came a day in fifth grade when test papers were being handed back, and he realized he was the lowest- for the more than 100 Navy medical facilities around the world. But in the military’s hierarchical structure, Dr. Washington’s team could only make recommendations to hospital administrators; they could not set policy. Which is why he jumped at the chance to return to the CDC when the position of deputy director of the model- Greg Gayne/FOX Kelsey McNeal/FOX Kelsey McNeal/FOX Kelsey McNeal/FOX As an expert on disaster modeling, Dr. Washington works with his unit to evaluate models related to emergency plans for federal, state and local agencies. In preparation for the flu season, they have evaluated many models from both the public and private sectors. “My unit came back and said there were a lot of flaws with assumptions underlying many of the models,” he says. “In epidemiologic models related to the current influenza pandemic, modelers assumed instantaneous vaccinations, which is not possible, and assumed all vaccines would be available at the beginning of the outbreak or influenza season, which is not likely.” Dr. Washington’s academic pedigree includes a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the University of Florida and master’s and doctoral degrees in the same subject from the University of South Florida. But his academic achievements and current key role in guarding the nation’s health are startling considering the environment he came from. achieving student in his class. “I got real upset about how poorly I was performing and ran out of the school. Everybody was getting better grades than I was, and I couldn’t understand it. I was disappointed that I was out-performed. I just ran from one building to another and hid and cried. “I promised myself that I would do better. I convinced myself that I could do better, and I did.” He held onto that belief during his undergraduate years, at a time when the Ku Klux Klan openly marched against the presence of black students, and whites stood up in class and openly declared he should not be in the engineering school. “When someone stands up and tells me I should not be there, I stand up and say, ‘I belong here,’ ” he says. “I get the same grades that they get. I study the same way they do, and, given the same information, I could probably out-perform them.” BACK AT hOmE Dr. Washington conducted postdoctoral work at the CDC developing disaster response modeling from 1998 to 2000, and was a full-time employee there from 2000 to 2007, before going to the U.S. Navy’s medical department in Jacksonville, Fla. There, he was charged with determining staffing requirements ‘I BELONG hERE’ Dr. Washington was the fifth of seven sons of uneducated migrant farm workers. The family picked fruit on New York farms in the summer and in Florida during the winter. 64 • career engineer • winter 2009 • ing unit opened up this year. “There are a lot of things engineers can do to help improve the public health system,” Dr. Washington says. “Statistical process control (SPC) is common in industrial engineering applications but is used sparingly in public health. It is gaining popularity in aberration detection. “If there is a signal of a terrorist attack, such as an increase in emergency room visits or over-the-counter drug sales, you use SPC to determine if what you see signals a possible bioterrorism or emergency event. SPC has been used to determine if you have reached a minimum vaccination coverage in a specific area. Other tools, such as decision trees, have been used to determine the cost-effectiveness of programs to address problems ranging from biological attacks to sexually transmitted disease.” His job at the CDC has Dr. Washington commuting between Atlanta and his home in Orange Park, Fla. His wife, April Turner, M.D., M.P.H., runs an urban family medicine clinic in nearby Jacksonville. His schedule and responsibilities do not leave time for a star turn on “24,” but if the nation calls, he is prepared to answer. ■ Roger Witherspoon is a journalist and author based in New York. www.nsbe.org
NSBE - Winter 2009/2010

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