Epidemiologists

To explore your interest in epidemiology, visit the Web site of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, http://www.cdc.gov) to read about topics such as environmental health, vaccines and immunizations, and to read articles from the Emerging Infectious Diseases journal (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid). It would also be helpful to read about past epidemics and how they were dealt with. A recent example is the story of the polio epidemic of the 20th century and Jonas Salk's and Albert Sabin's race to find a vaccine against it. A good book on the topic is Polio: An American Story, by David M. Oshinsky (New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2006). Another frightening—and more recent—epidemic was the 2014 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. An excellent book on the topic is Ebola: The Natural and Human History of a Deadly Virus, by David Quammen (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2014). Finally, talking to an epidemiologist about his or her career will provide you with a wealth of information about the field.