SmartTALK: Dr. Nicki Pesik of the CDC on her work with Zika and Ebola

President Roger Casey will lead a conversation with Dr. Nicki Pesik ’86, a leader at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Feb. 22 at 7 p.m., when the McDaniel College SmartTALK series returns to Decker Center Forum. The event is free and open to the public.

As a senior advisor for global health security at the CDC’s Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Pesik helped keep the nation safe during Africa’s Ebola outbreak. More recently, she has worked as the senior CDC official for Zika virus response in Atlanta and Puerto Rico.

Pesik graduated summa cum laude from McDaniel with a degree in Biology and was a five-time Academic All American athlete in softball and volleyball. She earned magna cum laude honors from University of Maryland School of Medicine and completed her residency at the University of Cincinnati Department of Emergency Medicine. 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.

The hour-long event includes questions and answers from the audience. A live video stream of the event will also be available at www.mcdaniel.edu/livevideo. For more information, call 410-857-2290. Requests for interpreters can be made up to one week prior to the event by contacting interpretingservices@mcdaniel.edu.