Key points
- FLIGHT officers get experience-based training and are recent graduates of CDC's Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS).
- The FLIGHT program combines detailed teaching and experience-based training to meet performance and public health service requirements.
What FLIGHT Officers Learn
FLIGHT officers receive:
- Training, mentorship, and coaching in public health leadership development
- Access to experienced coach consultants from outside CDC for personal leadership development
- Opportunities to shadow senior CDC leaders
- Experience conducting science or research, leading people, managing projects, developing partnerships, and practicing influential communication
Host site testimonials
Testimonials from public health leaders describe how their programs benefited by hosting a CDC Future Leaders in Infections and Global Health Threats (FLIGHT) officer.
Elizabeth Torrone, National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, Division of STD Prevention
"As a supervisor for a FLIGHT officer in the fellowship's first cohort, I was understandably a little anxious—FLIGHT was a newly developed fellowship program with a novel curriculum—but there is no question that our program is stronger because FLIGHT Officer LCDR McDonald joined the Division of STD prevention during his fellowship.
In addition to benefiting from his pre-FLIGHT subject matter expertise (e.g., within a few month of joining, he presented on behalf of CDC at an international conference on antibiotic resistance gonorrhea) and leadership skills (e.g., in his first year, he led an HHS sub-committee to develop indicators for the STI Federal Action Plan), his on-going training during FLIGHT has had a trickledown effect, with LCDR McDonald routinely passing on ideas and suggestions that help strengthen our Division's workforce."
Kevin Clarke, Center for Global Health, Division of Global Health Protection
"I joined the FLIGHT community in 2020 as a FLIGHT Officer Supervisor with strong support from the leadership team in CGH's Division of Global Health Protection. The FLIGHT training mission closely aligns with our own. Developing the global workforce to prepare and respond to global public health threats is a top priority for us, and we felt we could do more to foster that goal internally at CDC with our own talent.
Becoming a FLIGHT hosting site has been an excellent opportunity to evaluate and strengthen our leadership talent development. In recruiting a FLIGHT Officer, you can welcome a talented and independent professional who is seeking advanced career development. As a supervisor, I have also been able to benefit from the FLIGHT Program's curriculum while expanding my network of like-minded colleagues across the agency who are committed to pioneering this post-EIS leadership training pathway."