A lot has happened this year at the CDC with walkouts, layoffs and the disappearance of data and reports, presenting major challenges for journalists who report on public health. Especially when reporting on infectious disease, the compromising of the CDC as a source of public health data and up-to-date information about outbreaks has huge implications for public health. But that’s not all that has been lost — not by a long shot. The Secretary of Health and Human Services has also undermined the CDC as a source of trustworthy information about drug use/harm reduction, autism, chronic disease and diet.

Although the dismantling of the CDC has cost the country its oldest, most stalwart resource for public health information, the CDC diaspora has not vanished in silence. Join us for a conversation with former CDC officials Deb Houry, former Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science; Demetre Daskalakis, former Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases; and Daniel Jernigan, former Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. Moderated by AHCJ Health Beat Leader Tara Haelle, the discussion will explore:

• Who, if anyone, has taken over data collection and communication about infectious disease.
• What is missing, now, from the national public health picture.
• Their biggest worries about the potential consequences of the loss of this body of expertise and communication.
• Where journalists should turn for the reliable, evidence-based reporting resources that formerly had a home at the CDC’s web pages.