{"id":18740,"date":"2023-10-06T15:36:56","date_gmt":"2023-10-06T19:36:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/?p=18740"},"modified":"2026-05-19T14:28:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T18:28:03","slug":"disease-intervention-specialists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2023\/10\/06\/disease-intervention-specialists\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cThe backbone of public health:\u201d Celebrating our Disease Intervention Specialists\u00a0\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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Friday, Oct. 6, is\u00a0Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) Recognition Day. If you haven\u2019t heard of DIS before, you\u2019re not alone\u2014chances are, they\u2019ve helped you live a healthier life regardless.<\/p>\n

Disease Intervention Specialists are what\u00a0CDC\u00a0calls \u201cthe backbone of public health in the United States.\u201d From DIS Supervisor Brad Cox\u2019s perspective, a DIS is simultaneously a detective, a counselor, and a scientist\u2014all these skills come together to ensure that highly contagious diseases like syphilis or HIV can be contained: \u201cOur main goal is following up with people with HIV and STIs to make sure that they get notified, they get treated, they receive education about their infection and what happens next, that they get linked to resources, and also that they have an opportunity to have their partners notified confidentially through us,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Brad adds that DIS are essential at a time when syphilis infections in particular continue to\u00a0increase exponentially\u00a0across the country. And because HIV and STIs can have serious long-term health consequences, diagnosing infections early and making sure people have access to treatment is critical. \u201cI might be a little bit biased,\u201d he says, \u201cbut I think DIS is one of the hardest jobs in the health department. It can be emotionally taxing, and we go to pretty great lengths to find people and help get them started on treatment earlier.\u201d From his perspective, it helps to have \u201ca zoomed out, big picture concept of what public health looks like. The people who benefit most from what we\u2019re doing are actually people who we never talk with and, frankly, who don\u2019t know that we exist. Because we got this person treated, the person that they may come into contact with tomorrow doesn\u2019t get exposed.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to Brad, the RHHD DIS team is Lindsey May, John Whitener, Chloe Riblet, and Bekah Read in Richmond, and Timi Adedokun, Markez Johnson, Claudia Crispin, and Mariona Taylor in Henrico. Together, these folks make an enormous impact in our communities\u2019 health and disease rates. Thank you for the work you do with such empathy and expertise!<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Friday, Oct. 6, is\u00a0Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) Recognition Day. If you haven\u2019t heard of DIS before, you\u2019re not alone\u2014chances are, they\u2019ve helped you live a healthier life regardless. Disease Intervention […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":18617,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"modified_by":"bryanhooten","yoast_head":"\n\u201cThe backbone of public health:\u201d Celebrating our Disease Intervention Specialists\u00a0\u00a0 - Richmond City Health Department<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/richmond-city\/2023\/10\/06\/disease-intervention-specialists\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cThe backbone of public health:\u201d Celebrating our Disease Intervention Specialists\u00a0\u00a0 - Richmond City Health Department\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Friday, Oct. 6, is\u00a0Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) Recognition Day. 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