Obstruction of muellers investigation by the president. Watch live coverage tuesday at 1 pm on cspan3. Online on www. Cspan. Org. Cdc speaking at a medical innovation conference in washington, d. C. About 20 minutes the conversation about challenges facing women in the medical research field. I want to think dean reese for the introduction. Its a great honor to be here. And i thank you for your persistence to science and Public Health. Its the underpinning of medicine and Public Health. And i believe its a very exciting time. Time of grade expectation about the growing potential of science to provide solutions to what a decade ago seemed like science fiction. When i look back i reflect on science and i think about Alexander Fleming in 1928 where he noticed mold on the petri dish, and he noticed an impact will affect the growth. He understood the therapeutic potential 1928. Literally sat on the shelf until it was embraced to during world war ii. Part of the mess just message i want to have is that we need to actively engage news science and put it into timely action to provide meaningful solution. Science has little value. But in action he can change the human condition. For me personally its been a great privilege given the opportunity to work with my colleagues concerned as a director of the cdc. Its datadriven and its a service organization. When youre in maze of jobs, its hard to realize its temporal and you have to focus if you want to get something accomplished in that doing so i came up with four major priorities that i would like to focus on as the cdc director. The first and most important was to respond to outbreaks. Who knew that they outbreaks they would be asked to lead would be the opioid and drug use epidemic in our nation. The second was to eliminate disease , and put the science into action where we have solutions to eliminate disease and improve the human condition. And to secure global health, the fourth and most important, when people look back at my time will see that i really helped. We need to invest in the core capabilities that are required for Public Health. Those core capabilities are three things. Data, data analytics. We need to modernize our data capacity. We need Laboratory Capabilities and we need to be able to keep up with it. I was recently at a Homeland Security briefing and we are talking about the bile watch program we put in , asked him to tell me that about the technology in 2019. They said its the same. My colleague said 2003 i have an iphone , and im on my 10th addition. We need to invest in laboratories so that they stay up. And the most important is that we have to continue to invest in creating the Public Health workforce. This is an exciting time for Public Health its an opportunity to revitalize Public Health in our nation. And its something that continues to be under invested in. I wanted to highlight just a few. Eliminating disease. It really was important when the president announced the decision for our nation to bring an end to hiv over the next 10 years. We have the tools. Weve had decades of science it took hiv from a very difficult disease, to see that the science produced by decades, so you can live a natural lifetime and youre no longer able to transmit to someone else. As well as developing prevention strategies. We have initiated a high targeted program , that is no longer about wishing to create, its the time is now to put that in action, its all about execution. The other area to eliminate disease that i am very focused on, i never thought we would be here, who declared hesitancy is one of the most serious threats in the world , getting individuals to embrace the most powerful tool that we have and its actually the only tool that has been successful and thats a vaccination. We need to focus heavily on that i know this group is very involved and i look forward to working with you as we convert more of those individuals that are hesitant to embrace vaccination so that we no longer have to confront what we are confronting which is a global measles outbreak. In the United States could lose their status of being measles free. Which the United States also who would want to prevent cancer in their kids. Thats an important priority. The other is securing global security. Obviously many of you have read about the a bola outbreak. The most complex outbreak that the world has seen. It is occurring in an area that has been an active conflict for 25 years. 3000 cases , its in 29 health zones. And well on its way in its second year. There is a no in insight of the current outbreak. I bring it up because its an important example of science and action. Here you are in a conflict zone. One the most complex outbreaks in the world. What is happening . Clinical research. When you look at the research, it was a waited until the outbreak was over. It was done in the midof the outbreak. And it led to an understanding that this vaccination is effective. And will lead to an approved vaccination. Even more importantly, looking at therapeutics. Four major therapeutics a study to know war zone to show that we have two outstanding drugs to treat hiv. The mortality was 70 in rural hospitals that were not sophisticated being treated with antibodies now has a 94 survival rate is a remarkable. We did not wait for the perfect this setting, we put the science in action and its going make a difference for many to come. I use that because the outbreak of our time is opioid. Im going to stress that i believe that theres a lot of lessons from what we learned in the a bola outbreak. We dont have to wait for the perfect solution we need to embrace science, and advances. It is a Public Health crisis. Hundred 30 people die each day in our country from Drug Overdose we are making progress this year but with a long way to go. We need to stay focus. I remember when i started as an aids physician , my patients had a tenmonth survival rate. Look at where we are today . The same has to be said for those individuals that are confronting opioid addiction. Youve heard me say this before. We need to recognize it for what it is , a chronic medical condition and we need to embrace it, is not a moral failing. We need to put that power of Science Behind us. To provide longterm solutions towards his medical condition. Its discouraging that methamphetamine is the leading cause of death in eight states in our country. I would encourage i want to realize that if you can do science it is a meaningful impact. That we should be able to figure out how to bring this against the drug use order. I want to reflect back on science, many people heard me talk. The most important thing is to see the possible and that lead it to action. The example that i like to use as polio 350,000 cases of polio. It was a group that sat around and said you were going to do . Were going to end polio and the truth is there are 73 cases in two countries and we are on the road to bring an end to polio as a consequence of putting that into action. Is still a way to go. But when we decide to eradicate a disease we need to stick with it until we accomplish that goal and do just that eradicate the disease. In closing, i would like to take a second to thank all of you that have done so much to bring the 21stcentury care act into reality i made the comment that its an exciting time for Public Health. An exciting time for health systems. And refocusing on health and prevention. Its exciting for science to provide the foundation as we see a focus on disease prevention and health. I also think that its time to think about the 21st century implementation of the care act. Its not good for science to sit on the shelf. I use that example for those of you who do not think its a big issue. All is example of hepatitis c. The cure discovered in 2013. 3 million americans living with hepatitis c. Weve had a cure on the shelf. I know its not easy but i do believe we can collectively come together and see how when we have cures. Somebody cures addiction tomorrow. How do we apply those . How do we get a mechanism to come together to show that these cures can be put into action to improve the human condition and i just want to thank you for your support of science in Public Health. We will see what is impossible become a reality. Think you very much. Was ernie questions i be happy to answer those . If not i want to thank you very much. You didnt mention chronic disease. I know among your priorities is prediabetes. Could use a little bit about that . Its important, when we get an opportunity to focus. I was telling mary that i have 35 things in my book that i want to get accomplish. Chronic disease is an important issue. We encourage people to look at a strategic plan, diabetes is one of the. Try to reduce diabetes. And prediabetics are our target. You can see the overlap with obesity. The other one that is very important that we are on top of targeting his tobacco products. You can see it with the new epidemics. In medicine we hear do no harm. We have an offramp for individuals, but its become an on ramp to nicotine addiction. And to millions of young people in middle school and high schools at a rate that weve never seen. Its important , its there, and we will continue to try to move both. Its a major priority. Id love to see the nutrition industry partner with us in an effective way. I think historically that has not happened. And i think it would be a great time for that to happen. Obviously diabetes and obesity are a big problem. The opioid response has really escalated. Its a whole government approach. The president Just Announced a 1. 8 billion for treatment to help giving the states the ability to lead people into treatment. For cdc our role in this is to improve surveillance so we know where the problem is. To get that surveillance and data in a way that its not historical, that it is predictive. If youve been reading about some of the outbreaks that we are currently happening in west virginia. Being on top of predicting and developing Rapid Response teams that help the Public Health community respond clearly weve done a lot. Weve asked people to subscribe the locks on and weve made some progress but we have a long way to go. Weve done a lot with the Prescription Drug monitoring program. Theres more Awareness Among providers and pharmacies. Weve seen a downturn, about 25 many of you have read some of those statistics. I was just talking to someone. How can you have 100 prescription tablets , hockey find a pharmacy that dispensed 21 million pills for a town that was less than 3000 people. Monitoring this and bringing the social consciousness to this trying to make Healthcare Professionals aware. As a doctor i know that a single prescription carries 2. 6 addiction rate. I had major dental surgery and i was little agonized. He said heres some ibuprofen. And i said you do anything with opioids . He said no but if its painful and tell you to take tylenol. And were trying to educate the american public. The criticism that we are trying to take away critical pain. I would like thirdparty payers to be reimbursed for acupuncture, massage, and not have the only therapeutic prevention be opioids. Its going to be a long battle. What i do try to tell people, and people know that ive experiences in my own life. Baltimore had its share of addiction and as an aids doctor i saw a lot of the. I do understand addiction until it almost took the life of one of my own children. And i understand that now as a palpable level. We need to embrace people. We need to let people rediscover the joy of who they are, and help them confront their chronic medical condition. Addiction is a family disease. Its a family medical condition, we need to support those families. Its really important that we create that climate. For families like mine, the hope that science will provide that solution. Is just a matter of time. Will have mechanisms to treat pain. Is just a matter of time to understand the interrelationship between gambling, sex, alcohol addiction. I believe there are common pathways. And its going to be an exciting time when science finds that. I hope that it is something the 21stcentury cure act figures out. Its going be a really important discovery for our nation and world. Thank you very much