Mary Guinan

Mary Guinan, Ph.D., M.D. is the dean of the School of Community Health Sciences^[1] at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.^[2] Guinan is known for her work in the initial investigation of the HIV/AIDS epidemic for the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)^[3] through the book and film And the Band Played On, by Randy Shilts.^[4]

Work history

• 2004–present: Founding Dean UNLV School of Community Health Sciences and Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health
• 6/2009–present: Dean, UNLV School of Community Health Sciences, Adviser Nevada State Health Division
• 4/2008-6/2009 State Health Officer and Dean School of Community Health Sciences (formerly School of Public Health) and Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health.
• 2004-2008 Founding Dean and Professor of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Nevada Las Vegas School of Public Health
• 2002-2004: Executive Director, Nevada Public Health Foundation.
• 1998-2002: Nevada State Health Officer
• 1978-1998: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Public Health Service as follows:

• 1995-1998: Chief Urban Research Centers, New York City, Seattle and Detroit. Community based prevention and health promotion through private/public partnerships.
• 1990-1995: Assistant Director for Evaluation, Office of HIV/AIDS.
• 1986-1990: Associate Director for Science, CDC: Chief scientific advisor to Director of CDC and first women to hold this position.
• 1981-83: Member of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) Task Force
• 1978-86: Venereal Disease Control Division renamed Sexually Transmitted Diseases Div.^[5]

Education and training

After completing her residency

• B.A., Hunter College City University of New York
• Ph.D., Biochemistry/Physiology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
• M.D., Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland

• Residency: Internal Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University

Smallpox eradication program member

After completing her medical residency, Guinan joined a two-year training program with the Epidemic Intelligence Service of the CDC,^[6] 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.^[7]

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.^[8] 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,^[9] 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.^[10]

During her tenure she oversaw investigations regarding the Fallon cancer cluster,^[11] the Southern Nevada hepatitis C outbreak of 2008 linked to the re-use of equipment at the Endoscopy Center of Nevada (acting),^[12] and the state's reaction to the 2009 H1N1 influenza A virus pandemic (acting).

Honors and awards

• 2014 Elizabeth Blackwell Award from the American Medical Women's Association ^[13]

References