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Three Burning Questions – Marjorie Prezzy, South Carolina
Meet Marjorie Prezzy, a Disease Intervention Specialist expert proudly serving her community in South Carolina.
What do you love most about working in STD prevention?
What I love most about working in STD prevention is Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) training, meaning the ability to share my experiences, skills, and knowledge with educating newly hired DIS staff. Most recently, South Carolina transitioned to implementing it’s very on version of passport to partner services curriculum. As a facilitator of the South Carolina Disease Intervention Training Services, I am provided the opportunity to work with DIS to strengthening their skill set to ensure all patients receive quality services for disease intervention and partner services notification through training and staff development. The ultimate reward/love in my current position is to empower DIS to make a difference in STD prevention through the activities of partner service activities.
Marjorie Prezzy, SC
What do you think are the biggest challenges facing our field?
There are many challenges in the field of public health. Some of our bigger challenges in the field of public health includes stigma among school administrators, and legislature reinforcement of comprehensive health education in school systems. Comprehensive health education should be an opt out option for parents who refused to allow their children to take part in learning about their sexual well being, and sexually transmitted diseases. Many young adults are continually engaging in sexual behaviors without the appropriate education which increases their risk for transmission of sexually transmitted diseases. Many are learning about sexually transmitted diseases through personal experiences of being diagnosed, and/or through internet sources.
When you’re not working, what’s your favorite thing to do with your free time?
When I am not working, I like to spend my leisure time biking, kayaking, or relaxing in the park reading a book. I also, like to visit my home town to play softball with my siblings, nieces and nephews.
Meet Marjorie
Marjorie Prezzy is a native from South Carolina where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Public Health at Benedict College. She later, received her graduate degree in Public Health with a concentration in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention at Florida International University. Marjorie past experience includes volunteering internationally for public health mission trips, implementing cohort studies for seriously mentally ill women, and pregnant drug abusers. Currently, Marjorie serves as the STD Consultant for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC). In this role, Marjorie serves as the lead subject matter expert trainer for the STD/HIV disease intervention/partner services training program. She also, oversees programmatic evaluations, program monitoring, compliance reviews, and work plan development of regional partner service and disease intervention programs. Prior to her current role as a consultant, Marjorie spent four years as a Disease Intervention Specialist in Spartanburg, South Carolina where she enjoyed working on the front line providing quality services to all clients she encountered.