Description
Tanya Telfair LeBlanc, PhD, MS (formerly Tanya Telfair Sharpe) is a Senior Health Scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Her career began there as a disease detective, an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS 2000) Officer working with core and behavioral surveillance systems. Dr. LeBlanc was deployed in one of the Anthrax outbreak investigations post September 11, 2001 and received a number of awards for service during national emergencies. For eight and a half years, she served as Senior Health Scientist/Deputy Director with the Office of Health Equity in CDC's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB Prevention where she co-led an agency-wide initiative to address social determinants of health in disease prevention. She also served as a science team lead in national public health emergency preparedness, leading efforts to advance the science and evidence-based practice of public health emergency preparedness. She conceptualized and co-guest edited three supplements to the American Journal of Public Health on topics including the evolution of public health emergency management, medical counter measures and community preparedness. She developed and taught a college course - HSEM Medical Management in Mass Emergencies - at Clayton State University. In 2020, she was deployed for five months on the State, Tribal, Local and Territorial COVID-19 Task Force as Deputy and Associate Director for Science. Dr. LeBlanc is the author of numerous public health publications, including Behind the Eight-Ball: Sex for Crack Cocaine and Poor Black Women (as Sharpe, for Taylor and Francis, 2005), a monograph used in college courses, described as a seminal work in the field. She is an Associate Editor with the American Journal of Public Health and writes children's books under the name T. T. Telfair. Currently, she serves as Senior Health Scientist/Epidemiologist for the National Center for Environmental Health, working to reduce lead exposure among children and advance environmental justice. Dr. LeBlanc earned degrees in Anthropology and Communications at Florida State University and Sociology from Georgia State University, where she received a National Research Service Award from the National Institutes of Health. Other experiences include traditional and online university teaching and world travel. Robert J. Kim-Farley, MD, MPH is a Professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. He previously served in senior positions in the LA County Department of Public Health (LAC DPH); the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); and the World Health Organization (WHO). Dr. Kim-Farley has extensive experience with public health emergencies. He developed, in collaboration with others, the LAC DPH Smallpox Preparedness, Response, and Recovery Plan, setting priorities in communication, coordination, and planning of bioterrorism response activities. He coordinated the development of a Phase 1 Smallpox Vaccination Plan for LA County; facilitated enhancements of the 24/7 reporting system and the health alert network system; and coordinated the development of the Strategic National Stockpile Plan for the LA County. As Director of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention, he coordinated the LAC DPH's public health disease control efforts for emerging infectious diseases (e.g., pandemic influenza, Zika, Ebola, and West Nile virus diseases) with the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Agency and outside hospitals and agencies, as well as integrated bioterrorism preparedness program activities across public health units. At UCLA, he developed and taught a course on Preparing for a Smallpox or Other Bioterrorist Event; and lectured in the course Terrorism, Counter-terrorism and Weapons of Mass Destruction. As an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Public Health he has served as the Responsible Associate Editor for three special Preparedness Supplements and written editorials on: Public Health Disasters; Medical Countermeasures; and Community Preparedness. Dr. Kim-Farley received special recognition by the Regional Director, South-East Asia Regional Office, WHO for extraordinary dedication and valuable support during the emergency response and rehabilitation stages consequent to the earthquake in the State of Gujarat, India. He also received a Department of State Speaker and Specialist grant for lecturing and consulting on avian influenza and pandemic influenza in the Ukraine. Dr. Kim-Farley holds degrees in Electronic Engineering, Public Health, and Medicine from the University of California and is the author of numerous articles and publications in the field of public health.