J. Erin Staples '93, M.D.
 
Dr. Erin Staples recently returned from a three-month assignment in Uganda to Fort Collins, Colorado , where she is an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer with the Centers for Disease Control's division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases. She decided on a specialization in infectious diseases during her residency in pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center. Staples, a native of Canton, N.Y., who earned her degree with a major in music at St. Lawrence, later earned her medical degree at SUNY Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse .
 
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a two-year, post-graduate program of service and on-the-job training for health professionals interested in the practice of epidemiology. In Uganda , Staples was part of a team of researchers investigating the effectiveness of new diagnostic tests for plague, which is still prevalent in that country and has a mortality rate of some 30 percent.
 
Though she took only two biology courses while a student at St. Lawrence, she worked for the National Institutes of Health during her undergraduate years, through an Alumni Network connection with Dr. John O'Shea '74. She also was a Phi Beta Kappa student and studied in Vienna .

"Don't limit yourself during your undergraduate career," Staples advises. "I always wanted a career in medicine, but I pursued other interests at St. Lawrence."