My Start at the Centers for Disease Control


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Upon transitioning from academia to government service in 1999, my first three months at work were full of challenges while I stretched, grew, and adjusted to a new way of doing business. In the research laboratory at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, I did not ask anyone for permission, clearance, or cost-effectiveness policy guidance when ordering a $3,000 enzyme. I picked up the phone and told the customer service representative what I wanted, and it arrived 2 days later, appropriately packed in ice.