Mary Guinan is eradicating all your diseases
I looked up “woman epidemiologist,” because that seems relevant for our times, and I found Mary Guinan! Guinan is now 81 and is known for her work with smallpox, herpes, and HIV/AIDS. Here’s how she got into the field:
Guinan joined a two-year training program with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC, and asked to work with the World Health Organization (WHO) on smallpox eradication. Guinan spent five months with a team in Uttar Pradesh, India, where she worked to identify smallpox, and ring vaccinating those susceptible to the disease in the immediate area.
Soon after Guinan returned to the U.S. to complete her program, Uttar Pradesh reached a zero infection rate. She states, “That experience changed my life, and I decided to go into public health.” (x)
Dang, right? That was just the BEGINNING. She legit became an expert on oral & genital herpes, the latter because the media mistakenly said she worked on it, so she just decided to do that. (x)
Then, and here we go with what she’s primarily known for, in 1978, she went to work for the CDC with the Venereal Disease Control Division, which is now the STD Division. In 1981, she was put on the AIDS task force. If you’ve seen the movie And the Band Played On, starring a young Matthew Modine, Mary Guinan is IN it, played by the amazing Glenne Headly. Guinan was an investigator of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
She has devoted her life to tracking and eradicating disease, WHILE shattering the glass ceiling. And speaking of, check out NPR’s interview with her: The Epidemiologist Who Crushed The Glass Ceiling And Media Stupidity
The interview is because of her book, Adventures Of A Female Medical Detective, which could have a better title, but it’s a Johns Hopkins University Press book, and they’re probably busy being doctors or something.
MARY GUINAN.