Med Student One of Eight Nationally to "Experience" CDC Fellowship

Taylor Wofford’s interest in cardiovascular diseases has led to an opportunity only eight medical students around the country get each year.

Wofford is postponing her fourth year at the University of Mississippi Medical Center School of Medicine to study at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a participant in the CDC Experience, a fellowship program for physicians-in-training at the CDC. The yearlong program combines classroom instruction in epidemiology and biostatistics with hands-on public health work, including field investigations of disease outbreaks and other public health threats.

This is the second year of the CDC Experience, which is funded by a grant to the CDC Foundation from the Pfizer Foundation, Inc. During Wofford’s fellowship, she will participate in classroom training and special seminars that will complement her epidemiologic research and field investigations. She also will be mentored by a CDC expert in cardiovascular diseases and will complete a culminating project on a public health priority.

“I’m really excited about this opportunity and definitely honored,” Wofford said. “I’m also excited about studying cardiovascular disease because it is a prevalent problem in Mississippi. There is a huge need for effective prevention strategies, but the problem is very complex.

“The goal of the program is for medical students to gain a population health perspective that we can then integrate into clinical practice or into other related medical careers. It’s a chance to look at ‘the big picture.’”

Dr. Helen Turner, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs and senior associate dean in the School of Medicine, said she is “tremendously proud” of Taylor and all of her accomplishments. 

“She has been a leader throughout medical school,” Turner said. “She helped to establish the Medical Student Ethics Forum while she was a second-year student. She has demonstrated her keen interest in public health by working as a summer intern with epidemiologists in the Mississippi State Department of Health and by working as a research assistant in the Department of Preventive Medicine. 

“She also has shown commitment to the medically underserved by her work with the Jackson Free Clinic. Additionally, she helped to establish an interest group in medical Spanish (Espanol en Medicina), which brought students, residents and faculty together to learn medical Spanish to better communicate with a growing segment of our patient population.”

The Jackson native is unsure exactly what field she wants to go into after medical school, but she believes this experience will definitely give her a better understanding of what path she wants to take.

“I definitely want the experience of doing large-scale medical work, and to have better research skills, so that I will be able to figure out where I want to go next,” she said.

“The project I am working on has some connection to Mississippi in terms of cardiovascular health. I hope to help with the CDC’s ongoing collaborations in the Delta region.”

—    Jenny Woodruff (10-3-05)

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