Nationality American Name Mary Guinan | Awards Elizabeth Blackwell Medal | |
 | ||
Fields Public Health,
virology and epidemiology Institutions University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Dean School of Community Health Sciences Alma mater University of Texas Medical Branch
Johns Hopkins University Medical School Known for AIDS Investigation
Subject in the book And the Band Played On Education Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, University of Texas Medical Branch | ||
Mary Guinan, Ph.D., M.D. is the dean of the School of Community Health Sciences at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Guinan is known for her work in the initial investigation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the book and film And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts. In the movie she was played by Glenne Headly.
Contents
- Work history
- Education and training
- Smallpox eradication program member
- Sexually transmitted infectious disease fellowship
- HIVAIDS
- Nevada Chief State Health Officer
- Honors and awards
- References
Work history
Education and training
After completing her residency
Smallpox eradication program member
After completing her medical residency, 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."
Sexually transmitted infectious disease fellowship
After her EIS training, Guinan was accepted to an infectious disease fellowship at the University of Utah. There, she studied the herpes virus, focusing on oral herpes. Soon she found herself "an expert" on genital herpes after answering questions and lecturing about oral herpes. After many days of news interviews and calls from all over the world asking for help with genital herpes, Guinan decided to become the genital herpes expert everyone thought she was; she focused on women, who were not studied as thoroughly as men, at that time. She became known as "The Herpes Expert".
HIV/AIDS
In 1978, Guinan was asked to work with the Venereal Disease Control Division (renamed STD Division) of the CDC. By 1981, when the CDC began investigating HIV/AIDS she was the only virologist in the STD unit. She was made a member of the AIDS task force, which was credited with "discovering" the AIDS epidemic. While investigating the epidemic, a newspaper columnist, Randy Shilts, often interviewed Guinan. In 1987, the book And the Band Played On was published, and included interviews with Dr. Guinan.
In 1990, after becoming the first woman to be the Associated Director for Science at the CDC, Guinan was made the Assistant Director for Evaluation, Office of HIV/AIDS at the CDC, a position she would hold until 1995. In 1995–98, still with the CDC, she was the named the Chief of the Urban Research centers (New York, Seattle, Detroit), a community-based prevention and health promotion effort.
Nevada Chief State Health Officer
In 1998, Guinan became the Nevada State Chief Health Officer, the first woman to hold that position. When asked why she chose Nevada, she said that while states like New York and California had a solid base of public health practices, Nevada was just beginning to develop its plans; as such, it was a great opportunity to make a large impact on the health of Nevada's citizens.
During her tenure she oversaw investigations regarding the Fallon cancer cluster, the Southern Nevada hepatitis C outbreak of 2008 linked to the re-use of equipment at the Endoscopy Center of Nevada (acting), and the state's reaction to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus pandemic (acting).