2008 Smallpox Eradication Seminar

Interview Transcript
	   
Welcome
Steve Blunt with Introduction by David Sencer
Transcribed: January 31, 2009 | Duration 0:03:56



Introduction
:David Sencer

Thank you, Ray. Good morning again.
You've all heard of leaking in government; usually it is information,  today
it was the ceiling and so we've moved from the big  auditorium  to  in  here
and I hope you're not too crowded. If you are, we will have  overflow  video
in the big auditorium where it's partially dry. I would like  to  take  this
opportunity to welcome first, all of the people who  were  in  the  Smallpox
Program, and would you please stand. Another group  here  are  the  new  EIS
officers, would they stand!

Now that we've taken care of that, I'm Dave Sencer and my job is  mainly  to
be timekeeper this morning. I've first like to ask Steve Blunt  who  is  the
Director of the Office of Global Health to welcome you all to CDC. Steve!



Welcome

by Steve Blunt

Thank you, Dave and good morning to everyone.

This is a special event in CDC's recent  history.  You  all  contributed  so
much to our early history and continue to inspire us  by  all  of  the  work
that you've done and are continuing to do.  Our  Director  is  out  of  town
today. She asked me  to  welcome  you,  to  thank  you  for  your  work  and
especially for your inspiration to the young people  that  you  saw  in  the
back. A couple people just commented on, the gender balance has  shifted  in
a significant way when we look at the EIS officers and  all  of  us  welcome
that. A couple of years ago we had a similar event and it was  much  smaller
and I guess, not only did our roof leak, but I think the  number  of  people
who have attended this year has brought  together  in  this  room,  a  large
group of people, a lot  of  energy,  a  lot  of  love,  a  lot  of  joy  and
celebration, and again, for us who are still here, carrying on your work,  a
huge amount of inspiration. Some of you were at  a  review  of  our  current
global work yesterday morning, and I hope for those of  you  who  are  here,
you could see that the work you've  done  has  laid  a  foundation  that  we
continue to use to drive us toward greater improvement in the health of  the
world. So, on a personal level, it's wonderful to see so many  friends,  and
heroes, and mentors here.

Thank you all for joining us. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you.



Closing

:David Sencer

I won't point out all luminaries that are here, but I would like to  mention
the fact that Jim Curran, the Dean of the Rollins School  of  Public  Health
is - where are you hiding Jim? Stand up!

In addition to being a Dean, he went to the University  of  Michigan.  As  I
said, my job this morning is mainly to be a timekeeper. I have to keep  D.A.
Henderson to 10 minutes. I have to keep Joel Breman to 10 minutes  and  wish
me luck, please.


[End of Audio]