A University of Colorado Department of Medicine faculty member has been appointed to a national science committee advising the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on infectious-disease issues.
Joshua Barocas, MD, an associate professor in the divisions of Infectious Diseases and General Internal Medicine, is now one of 17 members of the CDC’s Board of Scientific Counselors (BSC) for infectious diseases. His appointment took effect in March.
The panel advises CDC Director Mandy Cohen and Deputy Director for Infectious Diseases (DDID) Jay Butler, as well as the heads of the CDC’s three infectious disease national centers. It also advises U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra, whose department includes the CDC.
The BSC offers advice on “strategies, goals, and priorities for the programs and research within the national centers and monitors the overall strategic direction and focus of DDID and the national centers,” the CDC says.
BSC members include academic, clinical, and public-agency disease experts; representatives of other CDC advisory committees; and one official each from the national public-health agencies of Mexico and Canada.
Barocas’ research and clinical practice focuses on improving health outcomes for patients with infectious diseases, substance-use disorders, and other issues. He came to the CU Anschutz Medical Campus in 2021. Previously he was on the medical faculty at Boston University and Harvard Medical School and was a fellow in infectious disease at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
We spoke with Barocas about his CDC appointment and his role on the BSC.