Staff Advancements at ISID
The ISID is pleased to announce the advancement of a number of staff members doing the work of the organization. Linda MacKinnon has been appointed as the Interim Director of Emerging Disease Surveillance, and Taryn Silver Lorthe has been named Interim Director of Marketing and Communications.
Linda MacKinnon, MPH, PMP has been appointed as ISID’s Interim Director of Emerging Disease Surveillance. Previously, Linda served as the Assistant Director of the Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED). Before joining the nonprofit sector, Linda was a federal epidemiologist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) where she expanded active and passive surveillance systems, monitored outbreak detection algorithms, and supported numerous Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) investigations at the National Center for Infectious Diseases. She is currently pursuing her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst School of Public Health and Health Sciences and is a former U.S. Peace Corps volunteer who served in Niger, West Africa. “ISID’s ProMED is an incredible Program that supports thousands of front-line public health professionals around the globe on a daily basis,” says Linda “I am proud to continue the work started in 1994 and delighted to be a part of the forward momentum.”
The previous Director of Emerging Disease Surveillance, Dr. Lawrence Madoff, has accepted the role of Medical Director of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (MA DPH)’s Bureau of Infectious Disease and Laboratory Sciences and will remain on as ProMED Editor. The Executive Director of ISID, Joshua Caulfield, says, “We are proud of Larry’s accomplishments with ProMED, and excited for his new role with the MA DPH. His retention of the role of Editor supports the longevity of this Program.”
Taryn Silver Lorthe, MPH, has been named Interim Director of Marketing and Communications. Lorthe was previously Assistant Director for Communications and Programs at ISID. Before joining ISID in 2017 Taryn worked in leadership positions within the field of community maternal child health and nutrition in Haiti, and she is a graduate of Boston University’s School of Public Health. Taryn says, “I am excited to be a part of this great team and communicate the important work ISID is doing to the global infectious diseases community and beyond.”
ISID’s President, Marc Mendelson, says, “we are delighted with the quality of our team and are excited to see people grow within the organization.”