1. What do you love most about working as a DIS?

What I love most about working as a DIS is that I have the opportunity to hear people’s life stories. When someone contracts one of these diseases, it goes beyond unprotected sex or sharing syringes. A disease may appear to be the same in everyone, but the moments leading up to infection and the impact it has on someone is unique to that individual. I also love that my job is so meaningful. The work I do impacts not only the individual patients I come in contact with, but the entire community. I cannot imagine a world without disease investigators.

2. What do you think are the biggest challenges you face in your work

The biggest challenges I face in my work as a DIS would be lack of resources in rural areas, being unable to locate a patient, and anonymous sex partners. I am sure many DIS can relate to the same challenges I face. It can be a daunting task to find services for our patients in rural areas. It is also upsetting to be unable to locate a patient or contacts of patients. When I am unable to locate someone, it feels like my job is incomplete. Lastly, anonymous sex partners make it extremely difficult to stop the spread of disease. In today’s culture of dating app use, having anonymous sex is easier than ever which makes it tough for a DIS to find disease.

3. When you’re not working, what’s your favorite thing to do with your free time?

In my free time I enjoy traveling, retail therapy, spending time with friends, and just being outdoors. One of my most favorite things to do is to gather my friends and grill for them. I’m far from being a master griller, but my friends are always begging for my barbeque, so I must be doing something right.