These stories are based on confidential interviews conducted as part of the CDC Listening Project. Participants review and approve written summaries describing their work, their contributions, and the circumstances surrounding their separation. Stories are published without names or identifying details.
Developing Advanced Lab Tests to Inform Polio Eradication Strategy
This CDC scientist spent more than three decades helping protect children from paralysis. Work advancing PCR testing, genetic sequencing, and global laboratory training informed vaccination strategy in 131 countries and helped drive wild poliovirus to the brink of eradication.
Preserving and Cataloging CDC’s Artifacts and Key Memories
Before there were smartphones, before smallpox was eradicated, before vaccine safety systems were formalized—there were people making decisions in real time. This CDC historian and collections manager worked to preserve those moments. By restoring artifacts, cataloging decades of materials, and building a public oral history archive, this historian helped safeguard the human stories behind the science so future generations could learn from them.