Author: William Trick

After attaining zoology and medical degrees, Dr. Jay Butler’s medical career took an unexpected turn when he discovered the world of public health through the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. That discovery set him on a path that led to impactful roles with the Alaska Department of Health, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. 

In every position, Jay sought out the latest crisis and in the spirit of the CDC’s mission, “ran to the fire.” His long and diverse career has given him a unique perspective on how public health agencies can collaborate with each other and with communities to advance health. 

Now preparing to begin a new chapter as Dean of the University of Alaska College of Health, Jay reflects on the lessons, challenges, and motivations that have shaped his public health journey—and his drive for personal growth that keeps him motivated and continuously learning.

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In the early 1990s, a devastating outbreak of contaminated beef led to kidney damage and death among children, sparking a call to action on food safety. In response, the CDC, USDA, FDA, and several state health departments launched FoodNet in 1995—a surveillance system designed to monitor the incidence and severity of foodborne illnesses across the United States.  

Dr. Kirk Smith, an epidemiologist, veterinarian, and director of Minnesota’s FoodNet site, shares his insights from decades of work protecting the nation’s food supply. Dr. Smith discusses how FoodNet works, best practices in food safety,  and a particularly unusual and interesting Salmonella outbreak in an elementary school. 

Sample Initiated Foodborne Outbreak Detection

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Dr. Frieden has led public health institutions through some of the most defining moments of our time—from his stewardship of New York City’s Department of Health to his leadership of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In his new book, The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own, he distills decades of experience into a powerful approach: See·Believe·Create. Dr. Frieden explains how rigorous surveillance and data serve as public health’s superpower, allowing leaders to identify needs, design effective programs, and measure life-saving impact. As President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, he works on a global scale, advancing efforts to prevent millions of premature deaths by treating hypertension and promoting healthy eating.

Through his optimistic and action-oriented perspective, we are reminded that—even amid today’s challenges—public health can transform and thrive. 

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Dr. Sara Cody spent her career at Santa Clara County’s Department of Public Health. When COVID-19 first struck the United States, Santa Clara County was among the earliest and hardest hit. Dr. Cody reflects on the intense decision-making of those early days, the public’s fatigue and frustration, and the necessity of coordinating decision-making across public health jurisdictions. Drawing on her early training in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service—where she investigated outbreaks linked to contaminated apple juice and raw milk—those formative experiences shaped her approach to managing the pandemic. Dr. Cody’s story is one of a deep sense of duty to community and an inside look at what it means to lead in local public health when decisions have enormous consequences.

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Public health expert Mike Osterholm discusses outbreak investigations, pandemics, and the risky path the US is taking abandoning innovative vaccine technology and issuing poorly-informed recommendations. Mike’s motivation to leave his small town in Iowa to become a disease detective was driven by a steady diet of “The Medical Detectives” by Berton Roueche. As an epidemiologist, he helped solve hamburger-associated thyrotoxicosis, a tampon-related epidemic of toxic-shock in 1980, and a decades-old cluster of mysterious pneumonia cases called “Austin pneumonia”. Recently, he directed his energy toward filling the gap created when CDC’s science-backed Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was dismantled and replaced with political appointees. Mike’s new book “The Big One: How We Must Prepare for Future Deadly Pandemics” was published in September, 2025.

Hamburger Thyrotoxicosis

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Professor Laura Bix, the Director of the School of Packaging at Michigan State University, is a national leaders in designing solutions for drug packaging that improves medication safety.  Two catastrophic events, young children dying of aspirin toxicity during the 1940s and 1950s, and deaths due to intentional contamination of Tylenol with cyanide in the 1980s, prompted Federal agencies, industry, and academic partners to design child-resistant and tamper-evident drug packaging. The slogan for Professor Bix’s department speaks to their work, “It’s the industry that no one thinks about, but saves lives”.

The Tylenol Murders: Their Impact on Packaging

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