The 2012 Junior Veterinarian Officer of the Year award for the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps has been given to LCDR Heather Bair-Brake, MS, DVM, DACVPM, of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). LCDR Bair-Brake was presented the award at the 61st Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in April, 2012. LCDR Bair-Brake was nominated for her contributions to the mission of the Commissioned Corps and the CDC.

LCDR Bair-Brake is currently assigned to CDC’s Quarantine Border and Health Services Branch within the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine (DGMQ) where she serves as a Veterinary Medical Officer and health communicator. Since joining DGMQ in 2009, she co-authored and directed the development of the online continuing education course, Yellow Fever: Information for Health Care Professionals Advising Travelers that has become required training for provider certification in five states, Canada, and Scotland and has won three prestigious CDC awards. She has developed and delivered training on CDC’s animal importation regulations for >100 quarantine station staff located at 19 international ports of entry. She assists in writing and publishing new regulations related to animal importation and is responsible for communicating changes to the public. She has conducted formative research on bushmeat importation, arranging for focus groups of African expatriates to be held in Atlanta.

During her time at CDC, LCDR Bair-Brake developed an important public health program focusing on appropriate antibiotic use in agriculture called Get Smart on the Farm, and acted as the liaison between CDC and several food-animal producer groups. One of her biggest successes during this time was the development and maintenance of a website for the pet-owning public called Health Pets Healthy People (HPHP). HPHP reaches over 500,000 people in 52 countries each year and has been featured in newspapers and magazine articles.

During CDC’s H1N1 pandemic influenza response, she was responsible for drafting the first Traveler Health Alert Notice (10,000,000 copies printed and distributed at 327 ports of entry) and the CDC Travel Warning (viewed by over 1 million). This past year, she was worked in the CDC’s Emergency Operations Center for the Japan Radiation response where she wrote guidance for quarantine station staff on handling radiation contaminated pets, passengers, and luggage.

With all of these contributions and accomplishments in mind, LCDR Bair-Brake is highly deserving of the award for Commissioned Corps Junior Veterinarian Officer of the Year.