All Roads Led Elizabeth Parra Dang to CDC

4/30/2013

The Parra family in Luxembourg, December 2011.

Elizabeth P. Dang, April Employee of the Month. Photo by Jim Gathany

Although she traveled extensively as a child and continues to travel across the globe today, she considers Atlanta home. I was born in Modesto, California while my parents were between CDC assignments, returning from Puerto Rico to Atlanta, Dang said. They are both from California so thats why they went there for my arrival, since they were literally in the process of moving. So we stayed there until I was 6 weeks old and then moved here. My dad came to Atlanta ahead of us to find a house. The family moved to Switzerland when Dang was 8, and returned to the same house in Atlanta four years later. Since Ive lived here most of my life, I think I can say Im an Atlanta native, she said. Bill Parra returned to CDC headquarters in 1988 and continued to work in HIV/AIDS until he transferred to environmental health in 1995. He was the deputy director of the National Center for Environmental Health when he retired in 1999. He immediately went to work with the American Social Health Association in North Carolina. He returned to the CDC family in 2007 and is currently the chief operating officer of Tobacco Control Initiatives, CDC Foundation. Although she feels like she grew up at CDC because she was constantly surrounded by people from the agencystaff frequently visited her home for dinner parties and other social gatheringsDang said she never really envisioned herself having a career at CDC. But it seems her destiny had been determined from birth. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology from Oglethorpe University and came to CDC as a fellow in the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control in June of 1998. While earning her masters degree in public health with a concentration in behavioral science from Emory Universitys Rollins School of Public Health, she also worked in the National Immunization Program for a year before moving to the newly formed National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

Working at CDC is a real family affair for Elizabeth Parra Dang, MPH, a behavioral scientist in the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, and the Employee of the Month for April 2013. Dang is with the CDC Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Prevention Team and has been with the team for 12 years this summer. I work on a variety of our teams projects relating to health education and health communication, project implementation, and evaluation, Dang said. For example, I am honored to coordinate the FASD Regional Training Centers which provide trainings to medical and allied health students and practitioners on the prevention, identification, and treatment of FASDs, as well as projects that we have had over the years and currently with the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the National Organization on Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (NOFAS). Dangs unique contributions are recognized by her supervisor, Nancy Cheal, PhD, RN, who says, Elizabeths strong commitment to issues central to FASDs is recognized by partners and her co-workers. She has led our communications efforts on message testing about risky drinking and ensures that our webpage contains the most current and accurate information available. She is masterful in connecting FASD research and advocates. Dang also monitors and responds to public inquiries regarding alcohol use during pregnancy and FASDs and serves on the Advisory Council of the Georgia chapter of NOFAS. Dangs father, Bill Parra, worked for CDC for 35 years in a variety of managerial and leadership positions that had the family traveling and living wherever duty called. As a young adult just beginning her career at CDC, Dang met and ultimately married Hoang Dang, MPH, deputy chief, Parasitic Diseases Branch, Division of Parasitic Diseases and Malaria, Center for Global Health.

What also attracted me to Elizabeth is her sense of adventure, her willingness to travel and discover new places, Hoang Dang said. The couple has traveled extensively together, including trips to Argentina, China, Greece, Guatemala, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Vietnam, to name a few.

Dang with Kathy Mitchell, vice president and national spokesperson, NOFAS, February 2013.

This recognition of Elizabeth comes to no surprise to those of us who have had the pleasure of working with her over the years, said Cynthia Moore, MD, PhD, director, Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. She excels in her role on the FAS Prevention Team and is an asset to the division, the center, and CDC because of her commitment to addressing public health issues related to alcohol and pregnancy. Her proud father said he is delighted that his daughter has been recognized for her public health work at CDC. Public health was always a topic of conversation at our dinner table. That may have been a factor in influencing both of our daughters to complete their graduate work in public health, Parra said. And, my son-in-law also works at CDC, so the dinner conversations around public health continue to this day. In 2008, Dang and her husband moved to a home in Dunwoody that was built in 1977. We are continuously finding things to update. On most weekends, you can find us at either Home Goods or Home Depot, Dang said. We met at CDC in 1998 through a common friend while we were both fellows at the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, said Hoang Dang. What attracted me to Elizabeth was that we had many things in common, more than one would think at first look. For example, I grew up in Lyon, France and since Elizabeth lived in Geneva, Switzerland as a child, we had some of the same childhood experiences. We actually might have crossed paths when we were kids and my parents would take us to Geneva sightseeing and shopping. We went to the same department store that Elizabeth went with her parents. Their similar family experiences have made the Dang and Parra families close, including celebrating holidays together. Because Dang learned French as a child, she easily blended into with her husbands family. She speaks the language well, although she is stubborn to use her French at times, Hoang Dang said.

Elizabeth and Hoang Dang in Zhouzhuang Water Town, near Shanghai, China, April 2011.

Elizabeth and Hoang Dang at the Trevi Fountain, Rome, Italy, September 2009.

But Dang's passion is for her workthe people she works to serve and the people she works with. Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) are completely preventable if alcohol is not consumed during pregnancy. Alcohol use during pregnancy can result in miscarriage, stillbirth, and a range of lifelong birth defects and developmental disabilities, Dang said. The message is simple: A woman should not drink any alcohol if she is pregnant or could become pregnant. Its just not worth the risk. Our work, in collaboration with our partners, can raise visibility about this public health issue and help to address it. Hoang Dang said his wife has determination, and thoughtfulness, which I am sure her co-workers agree with. Elizabeth Dangs supervisor, Cheal, agrees with this perspective, saying: Elizabeth is undoubtedly one

of the most conscientious and thorough professionals I have ever known. No matter how daunting the task may be, Elizabeth is willing to tackle it. Dang said, We have recently gone through a process of conducting focus groups with women of childbearing age to learn more about what they know about alcohol use during pregnancy and FASDs, how they perceive their own risk related to FASDs, and where they get their health information. Those findings were used to develop some concepts and messages tested in order to develop new materials related to alcohol use during pregnancy and FASDs. The new materials will be launched this summer. We have a great team and work well together on all of our projects, Dang said. And we obviously couldnt do it without all the work of our grantees and partners! Working with Elizabeth was such a pleasure. Of course she knows her subject backward and forward, but she also understands her audience, said Conne Ward-Cameron, a health communication specialist and former news and social media lead for NCBDDD. When youre planning communication, its all too easy to forget who youre talking to. Elizabeth always knows who she is trying to reach and what she wants them to do. Her enthusiasm for her work comes through so clearly and carries all of us along with it. She is truly a powerful combination of intellect and empathy. No matter how you view things, working at CDC is a family affair for Elizabeth Parra Dang, our April 2013 Employee of the Month. This Inside Story by Rhonda K. Smith