On Monday, December 12th at 1:00pm EST, PROTECT hosted the third webinar of the 2016-2017 academic schedule. This webinar was presented by Dr. Brenda Rivera-García, the State Epidemiologist for Puerto Rico in the Puerto Rico Department of Health. The title of her presentation was “Zika Virus Emerging Disease in Puerto Rico: What Public Health Officers Need to Know.”
To view a recording of this presentation, please visit the WebEx link here. View the PowerPoint slides from the webinar here.
Learn more about Dr. Rivera-García by reading her biography below.
Biography
Born and raised in San Juan and an APS alum, class of 1984, Dr. Rivera is a veterinarian and epidemiologist. She received her degree in Veterinary Medicine from Iowa State University in 1999; a Fellowship in Applied Field Epidemiology from the Puerto Rico Department of Health and the UPR-‐ School of Medicine in 2008; a Masters in Public Health from the University of Iowa in 2009; and has recently completed a Fellowship in Pediatric Environmental Health form the UPR-‐Pediatric Environmental Health Center & the Pediatric Health Specialty Unit at the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine.
She is currently the State Epidemiologist for Puerto Rico in the Puerto Rico Department of Health and serves on the PR Boards of Veterinary Medical Examiners and Veterinary Technology. This year she was also appointed to the Board of Directors of the Puerto Rico Diabetes Center. In 2012, she became an Associate Professor of the Ponce’s School of Medicine, Public Health Program.
Dr. Rivera has been responsible for the design and implementation of several key surveillance systems for the Dept of Health and has been instrumental in several studies, critical investigations, and program building projects in cooperation with USDA, CDC, and EPA. She is currently a Guest Researcher at CDC working on One Health projects.
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Natural de San Juan y ex alumna de APS clase del ’84, la Dra. Rivera es medico veterinario y epidemióloga. Recibió su entrenamiento en Medicina Veterinaria de Iowa State Univ. en 1991; un Fellowship en Epidemiología Aplicada de Campo del Departamento de Salud y la Escuela de Medicina-‐UPR en 2008; una Maestría en Salud Pública de la Univ. de Iowa en 2009; y recientemente ha completado un Fellowship en Salud Ambiental Pediátrico del Centro Ambiental Pediátrico de la UPR y la Unidad Pediátrica Especializada en Salud Ambiental de la Esc. de Medicina Mt. Sinai en Nueva York.
Actualmente es la Epidemióloga del Estado y es miembro de las Juntas Examinadoras de Medicina Veterinaria y Tecnología Veterinaria de PR; este año también fue nombrada a Junta de Directores del Centro de Diabetes Puerto Rico. En el 2012 se integró a la facultad como profesor asociado en el Programa de Salud Pública de la Esc. de Medicina en Ponce.
La Dra. Rivera ha sido a su cargo el diseño e implementación de varios sistemas de vigilancia claves para el Departamento de Salud y ha sido instrumental en varios estudios, investigaciones críticas, y proyectos colorativos con el Dept de Agricultura Federal (USDA), los CDC en Atlanta y la Agencia Federal para la Protección del Ambiente (EPA). Actualmente es Investigador por Invitación en la División de Dengue de los CDC trabajando en proyectos con el enfoque de ‘Una Salud’ (One Health).