HHS fills vacant public posts on tick-borne illness advisory group

New voices were added to the United States Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Tick-Borne Disease Working Group this week, filling positions left vacant by public members looking to workshop ideas on how best to counter rising cases of tick-borne illnesses.

In all, seven new members were appointed:

• Holiday Goodreau: executive director of The LivLyme Foundation; CEO/co-inventor of TickTracker;
• Dr. Linden T. Hu: vice dean for research and professor of microbiology, Tufts University School of Medicine;
• Dr. Monica Embers: professor of immunology, Tulane University Health Sciences; director of Vector-Borne Disease Research; head of Education and Training, Tulane National Primate Research Center;
• Dr. Elizabeth Maloney: president of Partnership for Tick-Borne Disease Education; president of Partnership for Healing and Health, Ltd.;
• Dr. Jennifer Platt: co-founder of Tick-Borne Conditions United; CEO, founder of TickWarriors;
• Dr. Sunil Sood: chairman, Department of Pediatrics; attending physician, South Shore University Hospital; professor at Zucker School of Medicine;
• Dr. Kirby Stafford: chief scientist, State Entomologist, NE Regional Center for Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases, State of Connecticut.

All were sworn in by Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Rachel Levine. Operating under authorization from the secretary and from the 21st Century Cures Act of 2016, the working group is a Federal Advisory Committee designed to review federal efforts related to tick-borne diseases, examine the government’s research priorities, chart unmet needs and address those needs.

Working together with seven regular government employees, group members are required to submit a report every two years to both the HHS Secretary and to Congress on any findings and recommendations related to tick-borne illnesses. So far, two such reports have been filed.

Goodreau and Hu will be the new co-chairs of the working group, guiding it through production of its third and final report.