Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose
Dr. Ponesai Nyika (MD, MPH) is an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He is a medical doctor with formal public health training, obtaining his medical degree (MBChB) and Master of Public Health (MPH) both from the University of Zimbabwe in 2004 and 2011 respectively. As an EIS Officer, known as the 'CDC's disease detectives', Dr. Nyika serves in the forefront of public health in controlling current and future disease outbreaks or epidemics in the US, deploying to outbreak responses, evaluating surveillance systems, and conducting field investigations and public health research. Before joining EIS, he worked as a Public Health Specialist (Care, Support and Treatment) within the CDC Zimbabwe country office for 7 years, mainly overseeing the implementation of PEPFA/CDC TB/HIV programs. Here, he managed CDC Zimbabwe’s largest cooperative agreement worthy over $35 million annually, helping the country to put and maintain over 1.2 million people on HIV treatment, and achieve HIV epidemic control. During this time, Ponesai assumed various technical and leadership roles including membership of the PEPFAR Management Team, co-chairing the clinical cascade, cervical cancer and advanced HIV disease TWGs and leading COP planning. He was also acting HIV Services Branch Chief for several months. Ponesai won several awards for excellence, innovation, leadership and outstanding performance, including the DGHT Unsung Hero in Science and Programs in 2022. Dr.Nyika previously worked as the Director for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and as Deputy Director of National Health Information and Surveillance both in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Zimbabwe headquarters. Here, he spearheaded the introduction of the first online data reporting system (DHIS2) and electronic health record (EHR) system in Zimbabwe leading to remarkable improvements in availability of near-real time data for evidence-based decision-making.