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2005 SciPAC
Awardees
2005 Derek Dunn Memorial
Scientist Officer of the Year Award
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CAPT Robert
Linkins |
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CAPT Robert Linkins was selected as the 2005 Derek Dunn
Memorial Scientist Officer of the Year for his work to
improve the monitoring of measles and to increase measles
immunization in the United States. Although CDC began
awarding registry grants in 1993, less than 10% of U.S.
children were being monitored in 1997. That year, the
President directed the Secretary of DHHS to develop
immunization registries. CAPT Linkins was asked to lead this
effort. As a direct result of his leadership, ~10 million
U.S. children now benefit from registry monitoring.
Registries automate proven strategies to ensure high
coverage by generating reminder/recall notices, assessing
immunization needs based on complete histories, and
measuring coverage to identify missed immunization
opportunities and target at-risk groups.
CAPT Linkins organized and implemented a major registry
initiative in 1997; >100 national experts gave testimony and
21 parent focus groups were held nationwide. He directed the
1998-1999 effort to set a Healthy People 2010 (HP2010)
registry goal to increase monitoring to 95%. Consensus on
reaching this goal was gained with federal partners (CMS,
DoD, HRSA, IHS, USDA), state/county/city health departments,
professional and non-profit organizations, and parent
groups. CAPT Linkins chaired a nationwide committee in 2001
to develop a strategic plan for reaching the HP2010 goal,
and created an innovative method for measuring progress.
Specific partner activities were identified, agreed upon,
and funded (~$500,000/year).
CAPT Linkins defined CDC’s registry role as a standards
setting organization. In 1997 he saw the need to define a
“registry” by a set of functional standards. Under his
leadership, 12 standards were identified and adopted by
stakeholders and the National Vaccine Advisory Committee (NVAC).
In 1999 he organized and chaired a national committee to
develop minimum specifications for protecting registry data.
These specifications are HIPAA-compliant and were approved
by NVAC in 2000. In 1999 he chaired a national committee to
develop inter-registry data exchange protocols. In 2000 he
obtained NVAC funds (~$125,000) to develop and pilot test a
data exchange tool in seven registries. From 1999 – 2003 he
conceived a formal registry certification process,
successfully advocated for its national endorsement,
identified certification funding, created a certification
body, and led the development and pilot test of measurable
certification standards in three states. In 2001 he
conceived an innovative method to assess the efficacy of
registry de-duplication algorithms through automated
sensitivity and specificity assessments, and led the pilot
test of his method in four states. In 2002-2003 he led the
development of NVAC-endorsed standards of excellence on how
registries can improve vaccine management, delivery and
assessment, quality assurance, and surveillance.
CAPT Linkins recognized the need to justify CDC’s ~$300
million investment in registries (since 1993) by showing
their usefulness. In 2000 he led the creation of a sentinel
registry network that enables near real-time evaluation of
coverage and the impact of policy changes. Eight states now
receive CDC funding for sentinel activities ($600,000/year).
CAPT Linkins and senior staff in 2000 obtained a Centers for
Medicare and Medicaid Services agreement to pay up to 90% of
registry costs.
CAPT Linkins led the creation of new
nationally-representative partner groups: the American
Immunization Registry Association, the Committee on Registry
Standards and Electronic Transactions, and the Provider and
Technical Working Groups.
CAPT Linkins wrote 10 peer-reviewed registry articles (one
nominated for CDC’s highest scientific award – the Shepherd
Award), gave 45 registry talks, co-hosted a registry video
with Mrs. Rosalynn Carter that was sent to >55,000 U.S.
providers, furnished expert comment to journalists, mentored
~10 fellows, and annually chaired a registry conference of
>400 national and international stakeholders. In 2003 he was
awarded the first-ever CDC Special Registry Recognition
award for his efforts.
The results of CAPT Linkins work:
All 50 states are building registries. 43% of U.S. children
were subsequently actively monitored.
Registries have been shown to increase immunization rates as
much as 45% in children and adults.
Nationwide, they are also being actively used to:
Identify and vaccinate at-risk groups:
Children were targeted who were: born to hepatitis B surface
antigen positive mothers (Rhode Island); vaccine exemptors
during pertussis (Minnesota) and measles (New York City)
outbreaks; delayed due to vaccine shortages (23 states);
non-compliant at school entry (DC); WIC participants
(Oregon, Michigan); and recipients of sub-potent
(California) / expired (Arkansas) vaccine.
Increase vaccine safety:
Registries were used nationwide to assess cardiomyopathy and
intussusception associations with smallpox and rotavirus
vaccine, respectively.
Monitor policy impact:
Oklahoma evaluated the feasibility and impact of
implementing an all inactivated polio vaccine schedule.
Oregon evaluated the impact of hepatitis B vaccine policy
changes after public concern over a vaccine preservative.
Texas evaluated the use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in
public vaccine recipients.
Coordinate preventive care:
Rhode Island increased lead toxicity screening by 60% after
its integrated immunization registry was used to identify
at-risk children.
Nationwide implementation of CAPT Linkins’ technical
innovations has:
Improved data quality:
Oregon decreased record duplicates from 50% to <10%. Texas’
registry records were at least as complete as records in all
92 clinics evaluated.
Enhanced “gold-standard” coverage assessment: 4/4 states
showed that National Immunization Survey estimates are
improved when supplemented with registry data.
Increased accountability:
Annually, registry enrollment and standards achievement are
accurately measured to account for CDC’s $25 million/year
registry investment.
In addition to registry-related cost savings associated with
reduced vaccine-preventable morbidity and mortality,
estimated annual expenses of >$270 million are avoided by
reducing the number of record pulls for immunization checks
($76 million) and school entry ($168 million), and duplicate
vaccinations ($27 million).
As the nation’s expert on immunization registries, CAPT
Linkins’ visionary leadership made immunization registries a
cornerstone of U.S. immunization delivery.
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2005 Young Scientist Officer of the Year Award
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LCDR Daphne B. Moffett |
 LCDR
Moffett joined the USPHS in July 1999 and quickly
demonstrated her leadership skills. She received the
VADM Koop Junior USPHS Officer of the Year Award for her
exemplary performance and accomplishments in USPHS
assignments, civic accomplishments including offices held,
demonstrated leadership abilities, and notable contributions
to the mission of the USPHS. LCDR Moffett served as chair of
the Scientist Professional Advisory Committee (SciPAC)
appointed by the Surgeon General. She also served as Chair
of the Professional Advisory Committee Chairs (PAC Chair)
Board, which consists of the chairs of each of the USPHS
Commissioned Corps PACs. She served as Acting CPO following
the death of RADM Joseph and stepped up to take on the role
of acting SciPAC chair 6 months prior to the start of her
term. She has served two terms of service to the PAC and has
been the Rules Subcommittee Chair, Vice Chair of the PAC,
and COA Category Day Chair. Additionally, she has served as
a CV reviewer through the SciPAC and has mentored several
new Scientist officers. LCDR Moffett served on the Board of
Directors for the national COA (Commissioned Officers
Association) and as the Chair of the Public Relations
Committee. LCDR Moffett has been appointed to the CDC/ATSDR
Commissioned Corps Policy Advisory Committee (CC-PAC) whose
purpose is to work with CDC/ATSDR leadership and officers
stationed at CDC/ATSDR to determine impact of CC policies
and best practices for implementation of Transformation
goals, etc. She serves on the Resource Work Group which is
working with ORC macro to develop identity messages for the
USPHS CC and develop a recruitment campaign. LCDR Moffett
has completed BOTC and IOTC and is a member of the Atlanta
area Honor Guard. At her agency, LCDR Moffett is the
director of the Tri-Agency Superfund Applied Research
Committee (TASARC) which is responsible for identifying
research needs pertinent to human health effects from
superfund sites for EPA, NTP, and ATSDR and for identifying
mechanisms to address these research needs. She worked
closely with EPA to promulgate the first ever EPA/ATSDR Test
Rule which would require companies that manufacture specific
chemicals to conduct toxicological studies to investigate
toxic effects which would be of interest to public health.
LCDR Moffett served as the agency representative to several
interagency chemical testing working groups.
LCDR Moffett is engaged in many civic activities. She has
volunteered her time to the Toys for Joy Campaign,
volunteered to collect food items for the Atlanta USO, and
volunteered to speak to high school students about her work
as a commissioned officer in the USPHS.
LCDR Moffett started her PHS career in the Office of Tribal
Affairs at ATSDR. Within a few months, she had written an
agency training manual ATSDR’s Working Effectively with
Tribal Governments and administered the corresponding course
to agency staff. Her timely efforts in producing the manual
earned her a Citation. She worked closely with tribes,
tribal councils, colleagues from Indian Health Service, the
Department of Defense and others to answer complex public
health problems in a timely and scientifically credible
fashion. LCDR Moffett moved to the Division of Toxicology
and again immediately looked for ways to support the
division and in particular the Computational Toxicology
Laboratory. Of her own initiative, she requested additional
training in biologically based modeling and proceeded to
seek out public health projects in which her expertise could
be used. She was recognized for her efforts at a
particularly complex site through the award of an
Achievement Medal. LCDR Moffett has received over 24 PHS
(and non-) CC and agency awards for her contributions to the
agency’s mission, public health, crisis response, and
service to the PHS.
LCDR Moffett is recognized as a good teacher and authority
in her field. She was invited to teach a 2-day risk analysis
course to government officials in Thailand to assist them in
developing their public health expertise in the area of
environmental health. She has also been recognized by the
agency for her expertise on chemical weapons of mass
destruction and industrial chemicals and served as the
on-call expert during the National Democratic Convention.
She is the lead for Trichloroethylene (TCE) activities and
serves as the TCE chemical manager. Because of the increase
in her workload and responsibility for agency level tasks,
LCDR Moffett has recently been placed in an O6 billet.
LCDR Moffett has been an outstanding example of a dedicated,
young Scientist Officer. She has volunteered her time and
knowledge to serve her peers, her agency, her community, and
the PHS.
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