About

Hi there.

My name is Dawson.

I spend much of my time picturing a perfect world and subsequently find myself dreaming of ways to get there.

I grew up in North Liberty, Indiana. Needless to say, my post-high school dream included pursuing a college education in a city. I attended Indiana University Indianapolis, where I ended up with a Bachelor of Science in Public Health (BSPH) and minors in epidemiology and informatics.

I credit my indecisiveness and endless interests for my eventual route to public health. The first two (2) years of my undergraduate studies were spent on informatics, then a year of epidemiology, and then I finally found my niche in community health. Public health influenced me to consider patient care/nursing. I spent three (3) years of my undergraduate nights at the bedside of patients admitted to the surgical oncology unit of Ascension (Saint Vincent) Hospital in Indianapolis, where I served as a patient care technician.

In March of 2020, my best friend and I boarded a plane in Indianapolis, Indiana, for a trip to Los Angeles, California. We had dreamed about this trip for the duration of our friendship. Much to our surprise, we landed in Los Angeles and unlocked our phones only to learn that our concerts and reservations were cancelled due to the emerging coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.

Am I to say that working bedside during a pandemic and the simultaneous study of public health cultivated an underlying purpose to contribute to the profession of public health in Indiana? Only time will tell.

During my final semester at Indiana University Indianapolis, I was presented with an internship opportunity as an expedited partner therapy (EPT) analyst. I was able to continue my work in a full-time role that began as I concluded my senior year in December of 2021.

Since beginning my career in December of 2021, my duties have included:

• Provision of ongoing, expert oversight to thirty-eight (38) jurisdictions for quality assurance and reporting of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
• Revisions to programmatic policies and procedures.
• Creation, implementation, and maintenance of a maternal and congenital syphilis case investigation tracker that features email notifications to the assigned disease intervention specialist (DIS) for action(s) needed (e.g., treatment, bloodwork, approaching delivery date).
• Support, oversight, and maintenance of compliance to more than seventy-five (75) covered entities of the 340B Drug Pricing Program of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
• Establish processes for the expansion of prevention testing and treatment services to a total of fifty (50) local health departments (LHDs) from January of 2023 to August of 2024.
  • From January of 2023 to August of 2024, the number of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment services include:
    • Expansion of syringe service program (SSP) services to four (4) agencies.
    • Expansion of non-syringe harm reduction (NSHR) services to eighteen (18) agencies.
    • Expansion of rapid (point-of-care) testing for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to thirty-six (36) agencies, for hepatitis C (HCV) to thirty-six (36) agencies, for syphilis to thirty-four (34) agencies, and for pregnancy to thirty (30) agencies.
    • Expansion of laboratory-based testing for chlamydia to twenty-seven (27) agencies, for gonorrhea to twenty-seven (27) agencies, for syphilis to thirty-five (35) agencies, for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) to thirty-seven (37) agencies, for hepatitis C (HCV) to thirty-six (36) agencies, and for MPOX to eight (8) agencies.
    • Expansion of treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to thirty-six (36) agencies.
• Manage national BICILLIN L-A (Penicillin G Benzathine) shortage for 340B Drug Pricing Program covered entities; established priorities for use; increased inventory from March of 2023 to December of 2023 by five hundred sixty percent (560%). Consequently, the provision of BICILLIN L-A (Penicillin G Benzathine) was available for the coordination of syphilis treatment among consumers when the ascertainment of BICILLIN L-A (Penicillin G Benzathine) was otherwise not available.
• Partner with Chief Medical Officer and Chief Communications Officer to design educational communications for the management of syphilis during pregnancy, management and follow-up for suspected congenital syphilis, interpretation of syphilis serology, and treatment algorithms for congenital syphilis prevention.
• Write and publish agency considerations for Doxycycline Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (DoxyPEP) for the prevention of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in collaboration with Chief Medical Officer and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines; considerations emphasize recommendation for clinicians to conduct syphilis screening using the reverse-sequence algorithm due to the impact of intermittent doxycycline use on non-treponemal test results for syphilis.

In August of 2022, I began my graduate studies for the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the University of Indianapolis. Upon completion of my coursework in April of 2024, I was awarded the Master of Public Health (MPH) Award, which is presented to “an outstanding Master of Public Health (MPH) student who demonstrates superior leadership, service, and initiative—both inside and outside the classroom—and provides evidence of a promising career in health promotion.”

Welcome to my website. You can find a bit of everything sprinkled throughout—from the latest public health news and resources to my professional experience and thoughts.

I would love to hear from you sometime.

Cheers,
Dawson