RECOGNITION, REMEMBRANCE, AND REFLECTION: 

The Syphilis Study at 

Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama

This event will acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the end 

of the United States Public Health Service Study of Untreated 

Syphilis in the Negro Male at Tuskegee and Macon County, 

Alabama, 1932–1972. The intention is to create a space for 

authentic, accurate storytelling and discussion regarding 

current and future opportunities for public health leaders at 

CDC and beyond to move from trust to trustworthiness. The 

program examines what happened, how and why it happened, 

lessons learned, the palpable effects still felt today, and CDC’s 

ongoing role in improving health equity. Participants include 

experts in the fields of public health, ethics, history, and 

journalism. Our format includes moderated panel discussions. 

The recorded version of this event will be posted to our 

website shortly after the live event.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 2022 

1:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. (ET)

CDC Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia

Global Communications Center (Building 19)

Alexander D. Langmuir Auditorium, Roybal Campus

1600 Clifton Rd NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30329

th
Three of the principal researchers in the study, David Albritton, 

Eunice Rivers and Dr. Walter Edmondson. Behind them is 

a federal government car from the Department of Health, 

Education and Welfare, all of which were in poor supply among 

the subjects of the syphilis study.

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RECOGNITION, REMEMBRANCE, AND REFLECTION: 

The Syphilis Study 

at Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama

WELCOME

Termika N. Smith, EdD, MPA, Committee Chair

Joseph R. Biden Jr. 

President

Xavier Becerra

Health and Human 

Services Secretary 

Vice Admiral 

Vivek H. Murthy, MD, MBA

Surgeon General

Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH

CDC Director and

ATSDR Administrator

Debra Houry, MD, MPH

Acting Principal Deputy Director

 Termika N. Smith, EdD, MPA 

Committee Chair 03
RECOGNITION, REMEMBRANCE, AND REFLECTION: 

The Syphilis Study 

at Tuskegee and Macon County, Alabama 

ACT ONE

 History 

Moderator, Paul Rashad Young, MD

Discussants

Lillie Tyson Head EdS, MS | James H. Jones, PhD

Susan Reverby, PhD | Paul Lombardo, PhD, JD

ACT TWO

Never Forget 

Moderator, Jo Valentine, MSW

Discussants

Jean Heller | James A. Curran, MD, MPH | Dixie Snider, MD, MPH 

Fred D. Gray, Esq. | Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD

ACT THREE

Never Again 

Moderator, Susan K. Laird, DNP, MSN, RN

Discussants

 Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv | Christopher F. Koller 

 David Satcher, MD, PhD | Daniel Dawes, JD | Mary Leinhos, PhD

04
ACT FOUR 

Thank You

Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA

Diane Rowley, MD, MPH

In acknowledgement of Bill Jenkins

Ted Pestorius, MPA

In acknowledgement of Peter Buxtun

ACT FIVE

Questions and Answers

Moderator, Susan K. Laird, DNP, MSN, RN

CLOSING REMARKS

Debra Houry, MD, MPH, Acting Deputy Director 

Termika Smith, EdD, MPA 

05

th

RECOGNITION, REMEMBRANCE, 

AND REFLECTION:

The Syphilis Study 

at Tuskegee and 

Macon County, Alabama 

05
BIOGRAPHIES 

James A. Curran, MD, MPH, joined the Rollins School of Public Health as dean and 

professor of epidemiology in 1995, after 25 years of leadership at the Centers for Disease 

Control and Prevention. He is emeritus director of the Emory Center for AIDS Research 

and holds faculty appointments in the Emory School of Medicine and the Nell Hodgson 

Woodruff School of Nursing. Curran is known for heading the 1981 CDC Task Force 

charged with investigating the first cases of what became known as AIDS. While at CDC, 

he attained the rank of assistant surgeon general. Author or co-author of more than 

300 scholarly publications, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National 

Academy of Science (now the National Academy of Medicine) in 1993. In 2009, the 

dean’s position was named the James W. Curran Dean of Public Health in his honor. On 

July 1, 2022, Curran stepped down as dean and remains on the Rollins School of Public 

Health faculty as dean emeritus and professor of epidemiology and global health.

Daniel E. Dawes, JD, is a healthcare and public health leader, health policy expert, 

educator, and researcher who serves as executive director of the Satcher Health 

Leadership Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine and as a professor of health law, 

policy, and management. He is the author of two books, 150 Years of ObamaCare and The 

Political Determinants of Health. He was instrumental in developing and negotiating the 

Mental Health Parity Act, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, the Americans 

with Disabilities Act and the Affordable Care Act’s health equity-focused provisions, 

among other landmark federal policies. Dawes is a member of the National Academy 

of Medicine and an elected fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine. He serves as 

an advisor to the White House COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force, a member of CDC’s 

Advisory Committee to the CDC director and co-chair of CDC’s Health Equity Working 

Group, with the NIH’s National Advisory Council for Nursing Research. 

Vanessa Northington Gamble, MD, PhD, is university professor of medical 

humanities, medicine, health policy, and American studies at George Washington 

University. She is also adjunct professor of nursing at the University of Pennsylvania 

School of Nursing. She is an internationally recognized expert on the history of race and 

American medicine, health, healthcare, and bioethics. She is a member of the National 

Academy of Medicine and a fellow of the Hastings Center. A native of West Philadelphia, 

she received her bachelor’s degree from Hampshire College and her MD and PhD 

from the University of Pennsylvania. In March 2022, the U.S. Senate confirmed her 

appointment to the National Council on the Humanities.

Fred D. Gray, Esq, is a pioneer of the Civil Rights Movement, a native of Montgomery, 

Alabama, lives in Tuskegee, Alabama, with his lovely wife Carol and continues to 

practice law specializing in civil rights litigation, with offices in both cities. He 

represented many civil rights icons and organizations including the victims of the 

Tuskegee Syphilis Study (Pollard, et al. v. USA, et al., still pending), Dr. Martin Luther 

King Jr., Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, Congressman John Lewis, the Freedom Riders 

and Walkers, Selma to Montgomery Marchers, NAACP, Southern Christian Leadership 

Conference, Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, Congress of Racial Equality 

and others. He is president of the Tuskegee Human & Civil Rights Multicultural Center, 

which is a memorial to the participants in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. On July 7, 2022, 

President Joe Biden awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest 

civilian award. 06
BIOGRAPHIES

Lillie Tyson Head, MS, EdS is the president of the Voices for Our Fathers Legacy 

Foundation, which was organized in 2014 by descendants of the 623 men unethically 

and immorally treated in the United States Public Health Service Syphilis Study from 

1932 to 1972 in Tuskegee, Alabama. Head’s father, Freddie Lee Tyson, was unknowingly 

recruited into the study. As president of Voices for Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, 

Head is committed to keeping the men’s stories alive and promoting education. The 

organization connects descendants across generations, provides annual scholarships to 

descendants, participates in the research project “The Untold Story,” and offers support 

and guidance to the Tuskegee University National Center for Bioethics in Research and 

Health Care while pursuing all other strategic plans. 

Jean Heller enjoyed a nearly 40-year career as an investigative and projects reporter 

before leaving that career in 2008 to run a national marketing company and write 

mystery novels. During her news career she worked for the Associated Press, Cox 

Newspapers, the Newhouse Newspapers, New York Newsday, the Jackson Hole News 

& Guide, and the St. Petersburg Times (now called the Tampa Bay Times). She has won 

multiple awards, including the Worth Bingham Prize, the Polk Award, and the Florida 

Newspaper Society’s award for best investigative reporting. She is also an eight-time 

Pulitzer Prize nominee. One of those nominations was for her first novel, Maximum 

Impact. She is finishing book five in the award-winning Deuce Mora mystery series. 

Heller lives in Chicago and Southport, N.C.

Debra Houry, MD, MPH, is CDC’s acting principal deputy director. Since 2014, she has 

served as director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at CDC. In 

this role, she led innovative research and science-based programs to prevent injuries 

and violence and to reduce their consequences. She previously served as vice chair 

and associate professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Emory University 

School of Medicine and as associate professor at the Rollins School of Public Health. 

She also served as an attending physician at Emory University Hospital and Grady 

Memorial Hospital and as the director of Emory Center for Injury Control. She has 

authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, is a member of 

the National Academy of Medicine, and has received numerous awards throughout her 

career including the APHA Jay Drotman Award.

Ben Johnson joined President Jimmy Carter’s administration in 1979 as director of 

consumer programs. From 1983 to 1987, he worked as the administrator of the Business 

Regulation Administration. In 1988, he was appointed administrator of the Housing 

and Environmental Administration and directed enforcement and compliance of 

housing and environmental laws in Washington, D.C. He was then named director of 

the District of Columbia’s Department of Public Assisted Housing. In 1993, he joined 

President Bill Clinton’s White House staff as an associate director in the Office of Public 

Liaison. Johnson then served as special assistant to the president and was responsible 

for outreach to the African-American community. He later served as deputy assistant to 

the president, and in 1999 was appointed assistant to the president and director of the 

White House Office on the President’s Initiative for One America.

07
 BIOGRAPHIES 

James H. Jones, PhD, spent his academic career teaching American history at the 

University of Houston and the University of Arkansas. He is the author of Bad Blood: 

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment, A Tragedy of Race and Medicine (1981), which 

won two academic prizes and was selected by The New York Times as one of the 

12 best books published in 1981. His second book, Alfred C. Kinsey: A Public/Private 

Life (1997), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Biography. He has held postdoctoral 

fellowships from Harvard University, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and 

the Rockefeller Foundation. His articles have appeared in publications ranging from 

The New Yorker to the Hastings Report, and he has delivered public lectures at more 

than 80 colleges and universities. He and his wife, Linda divide their time between 

homes in Washington, DC and Sacramento, CA.

Christopher Koller is president of the Milbank Memorial Fund, a more than 

100-year-old operating foundation that improves population health and health equity 

by connecting leaders with experience and sound evidence. The fund fosters state 

health policy leadership and publishes The Milbank Quarterly, a journal of population 

health and health policy. Before joining the fund, he served Rhode Island as the 

country’s first health insurance commissioner. He was the CEO of Neighborhood 

Health Plan of Rhode Island. He has a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and 

master’s degrees in religion and public-private management from Yale. He has served 

on four committees of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine 

and its Health Care Services Board. He is a professor in the Department of Health 

Services, Policy and Practice in the School of Public Health at Brown University. 

Susan K. Laird, DNP, MSN, RN, is the training and health education lead at the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Office of the Associate Director for 

Communication, Division of Communication Science and Services. She co-leads 

CDC’s Health Equity Guiding Principles for Inclusive Communication Initiative. 

She served for 13 months in the COVID response, initially in issues management, 

followed by 9 months as the principal deputy of the Joint Information Center. In 

her prior roles at CDC, she served as clinical director for CDC-INFO, branch chief for 

community engagement, communications director for CDC’s Public Health Grand 

Rounds, and director of the Division of News and Electronic Media. Her bachelor of 

science in nursing, master of science in adult health, and doctor of nursing practice 

are all from Georgia State University.

Mary Leinhos, PhD, MS, is acting team lead to the Public Health Ethics and Strategy 

Unit in the Office of Scientific Integrity, CDC Office of Science. She serves as a senior 

health scientist in the Office of Applied Research in CDC’s Center for Preparedness 

and Response. She earned an MS in molecular biology and a PhD in higher education 

studies from the University of Arizona. She conducted dissertation research on the 

emergence and institutionalization of bioethics in the United States, later published as 

a monograph. She began her CDC career in 2003 as an HHS Emerging Leaders Program 

intern in NCHHSTP’s Office of Health Disparities. In 2006, she joined CDC’s National 

Office of Public Health Genomics, serving on the steering committee of the newly 

created CDC Public Health Ethics Committee.

08
BIOGRAPHIES 

Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA, has served as the associate director for minority 

health and health equity for CDC/ATSDR since 2011. She has executed innovative models 

of collaboration that have expanded the influence and impact of the Office of Minority 

Health and Health Equity including the implementation of the CDC John R. Lewis 

Undergraduate Public Health Scholars Program and the James A. Ferguson Emerging 

Infectious Diseases Graduate Fellowship. Liburd was the 2021 recipient of the Harriet 

Hylton Barr Distinguished Alumni Award, one of the highest honors of the University of 

North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Gillings School of Global Public Health. She also received 

the CDC Honor Award for Health Equity (Group Award) in recognition of her role as chief 

health equity officer. Liburd holds a BA from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, 

an MPH in health education and health behavior from the University of North Carolina 

at Chapel Hill, an MA in cultural anthropology, and a PhD in medical anthropology from 

Emory University.

Paul Lombardo, PhD, JD, Regents’ Professor and Bobby Lee Cook Professor of Law, 

is a lawyer and historian at Georgia State University College of Law who is known for 

his work on the legal history of the American eugenics movement. His books include: 

Three Generations, No Imbeciles: Eugenics, the Supreme Court and Buck v. Bell (2008), and 

A Century of Eugenics in America: From the Indiana Experiment to the Human Genome 

Era (2011). He is currently studying how the politics of birth control, abortion and 

eugenics intersected at the time of World War I. He advised the Cold Spring Harbor (NY) 

Laboratory panel that assembled the digital Image Archive on the American Eugenics 

Movement and was also a contributor and consultant for the U.S. Memorial Holocaust 

Museum exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race. From 2010 to 2016, he 

served as senior advisor to the President’s Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues 

that reported on the U.S. Public Health research scandal in post-WWII Guatemala.

Ted Pestorius, MPA, is the deputy director of management and overseas operations at 

the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has been with CDC since 1990 and 

has served as management officer for the National Center for Preparedness, Detection, 

and Control of Infectious Diseases, deputy director for management for CDC’s Division 

of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, and acting associate director for management and 

operations at CDC’s National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention. He served a 

three-month detail in 2002 for the Global AIDS Program in Ethiopia, where he served 

as the acting deputy chief of party. In 2010, he began serving a three-month detail in 

Ghana fighting polio and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Early in his public health 

career, he served as director of the Connecticut STD Control Program and as supervisor, 

Riverside STD Clinic in Houston, Texas.

09
BIOGRAPHIES 

Susan Reverby, PhD, is the Marion Butler McLean Professor Emerita in the History of 

Ideas and professor emerita in women’s and gender studies at Wellesley College. She is 

the author or editor of eight books, including Examining Tuskegee: The Infamous Syphilis 

Study and its Legacy (2009), and her latest, Co-Conspirator for Justice: The Revolutionary 

Life of Dr. Alan Berkman (2020). She was a member of the Legacy Committee that lobbied 

successfully for the federal apology for the USPHS syphilis study in Tuskegee, and she 

worked with former CDC Director David Sencer in 2010 to get the Obama administration 

to apologize to the government of Guatemala for a PHS study of inoculation STIs in 

Guatemala (1946–48) that she uncovered. She is currently working with the Change the 

Air Foundation on a history of mold infestations and disease. 

Diane Rowley, MD, MPH is professor emerita in the Maternal and Child Health 

Department, Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina 

at Chapel Hill. Before joining the UNC faculty, she directed a research center on health 

disparities at Morehouse College from 2001 to 2008. She spent her early career at the 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She was one of the first African-American 

women to complete the Epidemic Intelligence Service and join CDC in a staff position. 

Her final position at CDC was associate director for science in the National Center for 

Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She received her medical degree 

from Meharry Medical College, is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, a 

diplomat of the American Board of Preventive Medicine, and a fellow of the American 

College of Epidemiology.

David Satcher, MD, PhD, is a physician-scientist and public health administrator with 

a record of leadership, research, and community engagement. He is a Phi Beta Kappa 

graduate of Morehouse College and holds MD and PhD degrees from Case Western 

Reserve University. He served as the 16th surgeon general of the United States 

1998–2002) and the 10th assistant secretary for health in the Department of Health and 

Human Services (1998–2001). He also served as CDC director and ATSDR administrator. 

He has held top leadership positions at the Charles R. Drew University for Medicine 

and Science, Meharry Medical College, and the Morehouse School of Medicine. He has 

received over 50 honorary degrees and numerous awards from diverse organizations 

and agencies. Currently, Dr. Satcher is the founding director and senior advisor for the 

Satcher Health Leadership Institute at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta.

Termika Smith, EdD, MPA, is the associate director for policy, communications, and 

strategy in CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health. She leads the division’s 

legislative and congressional relations, strategic communications, and partner 

engagement. Before joining DASH in April 2022, she spent nearly seven years as 

associate chief for policy in the Division of Global HIV & TB. She joined CDC after her dual 

fellowship at the Brookings Institution and American Public Health Association with the 

United States Senate Committee on the Budget and the Senate Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor, and Pensions. She worked as a senior director of clinical administration 

at the Mobile County Health Department leading three primary care clinics and the 

Ryan White program. She earned a doctorate in education, leadership, policy, and law 

from Alabama State University in Montgomery, Alabama, and is a certified paralegal.

10
BIOGRAPHIES 

Dixie Snider, MD, MPH (Rear Adm. retired), is a former chief science officer at CDC. 

After earning a bachelor of science in chemistry from Western Kentucky University, 

he attended the University of Louisville School of Medicine, graduating with highest 

honors. In 1984, he received a master of public health from Emory University. He began 

working at CDC in 1973 as a tuberculosis medical officer at the Oklahoma Department 

of Health. Although public health had not been his initial career choice, he fell in love 

with the idea of improving the health of a population as opposed to treating one 

person at a time. In 1975 he was appointed chief of the Research and Development 

Branch in the Division of Tuberculosis Control, followed by an appointment as director 

of the TB Division in 1985 and as chief scientist for the Office of the Director in 1993 

until his retirement in 2006. He played a key role in arranging the 1997 presidential 

apology for the Tuskegee syphilis study. 

Jo A. Valentine, MSW, is the associate director of the Office of Health Equity in CDC’s 

Division of Sexually Transmitted Disease Prevention, where she has worked since 1991. 

She leads efforts to reduce STD disparities in the United States and promote health 

equity, oversees the Tuskegee Health Benefits Program, and manages the Tuskegee 

Public Health Ethics Program. In these roles, she leads and coordinates multidisciplinary 

teams and workgroups and provides technical assistance for intervention development 

and program implementation for disadvantaged and underserved populations. She 

also gives technical advice to state and local health departments and nongovernmental 

organizations. She received her master’s degree in social work in 1995 from the Clark 

Atlanta University School of Social Work.

Rueben C. Warren, DDS, MPH, DrPH, MDiv, is the director of the National Center for 

Bioethics in Research and Health Care at Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama. He 

is also adjunct professor at Meharry Medical College and Morehouse School of Medicine. 

He previously served as associate director for minority health and associate director for 

environment justice at CDC and part-time director of infrastructure development at the 

National Institute for Minority Health and Health Disparities at the National Institutes 

of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He is the recipient of the Distinguished Harvard 

Alumni Award, as well as an honorary doctor of medical science and the recipient of 

the President’s Distinguished Service Award from Meharry Medical College. In 2003, his 

academic status at Meharry was elevated to dean emeritus. In 2013, he received the 

honorary doctor of humane letters from Meharry Medical College.

Paul R. Young, MD, USPHS, joined CDC in 2012 as a medical officer in the Division of 

Global HIV/TB. He gave technical support to countries in Eastern and Southern Africa, 

focusing on programs aimed at decreasing mother-to-child HIV transmission. Currently, 

he serves as the regional associate director overseeing CDCs Division of Global HIV/TB 

programs in Brazil, the Caribbean, Central America, the Dominican Republic, and Kenya. 

Before joining CDC, he was an assistant professor and Pediatric AIDS Corp physician with 

the Baylor International Pediatric AIDS Initiative from 2008 to 2012. He provided HIV care 

to pregnant women and their families in Lesotho and supported the decentralization 

of treatment programs into rural districts. He received his medical degree from Mercer 

University School of Medicine in Macon, Georgia.

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PERSONAL REFLECTIONS

We would like to thank everyone who graciously gave 

of their time to participate in this commemorative video.

Robin D. Bailey Jr., MA 

Rebecca Bunnell, PhD, MEd

Joe Carter

Joyce L. Christian, MSN, RN

Dick Conlon, MPA

Norman Hayes, JM

Lillie Head, EdS, MS

Anne-Renee Heningburg, MPA

Leandris Liburd, PhD, MPH, MA 

Paul Lombardo, PhD, JD

Aletha Maybank, MD, MPH

Pat McConnon, MPH 

Leandro Mena, MD, MPH, FIDSA

Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH

Omar Neal

Mittie Newman-Thornton

Leonard Ortmann, PhD

Christopher Parker, PhD

Ted Pestorius, MPA

Peggy Tatum

Jo Valentine, MSW

Theilene Williams

COMMITTEE MEMBERS 

Karen Bouye, PhD, MPH, MS 

Health Scientist, Office of Minority Health & Health Equity 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Catina Conner, MPH

Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Science, Office of Scientific 

Integrity, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Paula Eriksen 

Health Communication Specialist (CTR)

Division of Communication Science and Services

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Anne-Reneé Heningburg, MPA

Lead Public Health Advisor, Global Immunization Division 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Susan K. Laird, DNP, MSN, RN

Training and Health Education Lead

Division of Communication Science and Services

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Mary Leinhos, PhD, MS, (ad hoc)

Acting Team Lead, Public Health Ethics and Strategy Unit

Office of Science, Office of Scientific Integrity

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Leonard W. Ortmann, PhD 

Senior Ethics Consultant

Office of Science, Office of Scientific Integrity

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Christopher S. Parker, PhD

Chief, Management and Operations Branch

Center for Global Health, Division of Global HIV and TB

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Ted Pestorius, MPA 

Deputy Director, Management and Overseas Operations

Center for Global Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Hilary Joy Polk, MPH, (ad hoc) 

DEIAB Communications Lead, Office of the Director

Office of the Associate Director for Communication

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Tony Richardson, MS, MPH, MSCJ 

Public Health Analyst (Issues Management)

Office of Science 

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Termika N. Smith, EdD, MPA 

Associate Director for Policy, Communications, and Strategy

Division of Adolescent and School Health

National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Jo A. Valentine, MSW 

Associate Director, Office of Health Equity

Division of STD Prevention, NCHHSTP

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Paul R. Young, MD

Commander, U.S. Public Health Service

Regional Associate Director, The Americas and Kenya

Division of Global HIV & TB, Center for Global Health

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

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CS335414A

RECOGNITION, REMEMBRANCE, 

AND REFLECTION:

The Syphilis Study 

at Tuskegee and 

Macon County, Alabama 

th