Dr. Nicki Pesik '86 receives McDaniel Alumni Professional Achievement Award
NICKI PESIK RECEIVES ALUMNI PROFESSIONAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM McDANIEL COLLEGE
Dr. Pesik of Decatur, Ga., is a 1986 alumna of the college
WESTMINSTER, Md. – Dr. Nicki Pesik of Decatur, Ga., has received the alumni professional achievement award from McDaniel College. She is 1986 alumna of the college.
Presented annually during McDaniel’s Homecoming, the alumni professional achievement award is presented to a graduate who has gained distinction in her chosen field or profession and whose accomplishments reflect admirably on McDaniel College.
Dr. Pesik is the associate director for infectious disease preparedness at the Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She oversees the Center’s domestic preparedness, global health and One Health portfolio. These efforts include working with other countries to improve their capacity to prevent and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. She was a leader in the CDC’s response to the outbreak of Ebola in Africa and worked as the senior CDC official for the Zika virus response in Atlanta and Puerto Rico.
She has been recognized by the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration for excellence in leadership and, in 2006, received the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service for her leadership during the response to Hurricane Katrina.
A summa cum laude graduate of McDaniel with a degree in biology, she served three years of military service with the virology division of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Infectious Diseases before earning magna cum laude honors from University of Maryland School of Medicine. She completed her residency at the University of Cincinnati Department of Emergency Medicine, where she was an aeromedical flight physician. Prior to joining the CDC, she was an assistant professor at Emory University School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, where she taught in the domestic preparedness program.
