IEIP, GDDRP, NAMRU-3 & DoD

I live in a world of acronyms. I work for IEIP, which is a component of CDC's GDDRP and, in Egypt, falls under NAMRU-3, which in turn is under the DoD. Let me explain...

The International Emerging Infections Program (IEIP) is a core component of the CDC's Global Disease Detection and Response Program (GDDRP), "the agency’s principal and most visible program for strengthening global capacity to not only identify but also rapidly and effectively respond to emerging infections around the world. As part of CDC’s global strategy, centers of excellence that integrate disease surveillance, applied research, prevention, and control activities have been established in developing countries."

IEIP sites are located in Thailand, Kenya, Guatemala and, now, Egypt. A fifth site will be established in China in the future. These sites "serve as international and national resources for global infectious disease surveillance, conduct applied epidemiologic and laboratory research, develop measures to prevent and control emerging infectious diseases that threaten the U.S., and strengthen the global public health infrastructure... Specific goals include conducting emerging infectious disease surveillance and research of global public health importance, providing diagnostic and epidemiologic resources when outbreaks occur, training local scientists, serving as platforms for regional infectious disease control activities, and disseminating proven public health tools."

The IEIP site in Egypt is a collaboration with the U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit No. 3 (NAMRU-3). The U.S. Typhus Commission was established "in 1942 to develop effective prevention and control measures for typhus. A research laboratory associated with the Abbasia Fever Hospital in Cairo, Egypt and staffed by American scientists and technicians was established to address the typhus problem among troops in North Africa. The Typhus Commission played a major role in averting a serious typhus outbreak during and following World War II. After the war, the Navy was invited by the Egyptian government to continue collaborative studies of endemic tropical and subtropical diseases with Egyptian scientists. In response to this request, the NAMRU-3 was formally established, at the site of the former Typhus Commission, by the U.S. Secretary of the Navy in 1946." In the past sixty years, NAMRU-3 has grown significantly. Today, facilities include office space, warehouse and supply storage space, biosafety level 3 biocontainment space, an insectary and animal facility.

However, NAMRU-3 is still a naval facility and therefore falls under jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). Thus, since my contract is with NAMRU-3, I am technically employed under the U.S. Department of Defense.

I hope this helps things make a little more sense!