# I Am CDC - Joe Smith

I’ve been at CDC for eight years but I didn’t get here the traditional way. I didn’t get a microscope for Christmas and dramatically dedicate my life to science… or see the movie Outbreak and become inspired to seek a career fighting diseases. I served in the U.S. Army for eight years. And after that, I helped found a start-up communications agency. But I never had the same level of satisfaction as I had when serving my country. So I decided to go federal. And what better place to “Go Fed” than at the greatest federal agency in America… the CDC. By serving as a Health Communications Specialist in the National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, I promote activities around a host of topics vital to American public health, including Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder. And I’m pretty sure I have the best job here. But if I weren’t at CDC, I’m sure I’d ¬ be an astronaut or a professional baseball player or a model or... Ok. Those didn’t really work out, but I love being a press officer. Why? Well, mostly because of her. That’s my sister, Rebecca, and she had a number of birth defects but she was a firecracker and a true inspiration to anyone who knew her. Knowing I’m a small part of promoting the research behind preventing birth defects and helping those with disabilities live their best lives, well, that’s a pretty good reason to come to work. Besides… I am too old to be an astronaut. I’m Joey Smith and I AM CDC!

Comments…

- Kind: Short
- Year: 2018
- Runtime: 1 min
- By: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Archive: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:I_Am_CDC_-_Joe_Smith.webm)
- Licence or status: Public domain (as the archive states it)
- Credit: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/commons/72951877?play=1)