Dr. Rupa Narra
Ohio University alum Dr. Rupa Narra ’01 is embarking on a “career traveling to trouble spots in the world helping fight illness and disease,” reports the Toledo Blade.
Narra earned a B.S. in Biological Sciences–Pre-Medicine from the College of Arts & Sciences at Ohio University.
Dr. Narra, 38, is about to start a Job as an epidemic intelligence officer for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Based in Atlanta, these officers are deployed all over the world by the agency to be their boots-on-the-ground detectives to help fight diseases. She will work for the division that focuses specifically on waterborne disease prevention.
“A lot of the diseases we focus on are typhoid, cholera, and international water and sanitation improvements, mainly all over Africa,” Dr. Narra said.
She is just finishing up a two-year training program for her new position that took her to several countries that were thousands of miles away from her northwest Ohio hometown.
Instead of just sitting in a classroom and getting a master’s degree in public health, Dr. Narra was on the ground during outbreaks of Ebola in the West African countries of Guinea and Mali. There she was helping train the local governments how to track the disease on a large scale and how to have a coordinated response effort.
“Personally I was never afraid [of Ebola]. When you know the transmission patterns and you know the populations at risk and you know your risk, you’re not worried,” Dr. Narra said.
Read the entire story in the Blade.
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