A Jefferson City native relishes his national role in public health.
Alex Landon, a health communication specialist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, uses his experience as a lab technician to transform complex scientific data into useful information, he said.
After graduating from Jefferson City High School in 2006, Landon moved to Atlanta to attend Emory University.
He majored in political science and music but worked part time as a laboratory technician to help pay expenses through college.
Unfortunately, funding for the lab position ended, leaving him with no job and no way to pay the bills.
He waited tables to make ends meet but also began looking into public health as a career. The CDC took him on through an internship, and he stuck.
"Public health is such an interesting field because it brings together people from so many different professional backgrounds to achieve common goals - science, medicine, journalism, marketing, economics, information technology, accounting, academia, government, private sector, the list goes on," Landon told the News Tribune. "Public health is a great career path for anyone with diverse interests and a willingness to collaborate outside of their comfort zone."
Landon said he's never been one to stick to a straight career path. And public health offers him opportunities to delve into a variety of jobs.
Right now, Landon said, he's empowering people with knowledge about COVID-19 as they navigate "the biggest public health crisis of our lifetimes."
As a child, Landon brandished a flashlight and saw himself as Luke Skywalker, wielding a lightsaber to save the galaxy.
Now, he wields information.
"Behind every case count and lab test and predictive model, there are real, living, breathing people," he said. "Health communicators tell the story of the people behind the data."
He said they use information to empower people to protect themselves and their communities from suffering, disease and death.
This article was edited at 8:10 a.m. May 29, 2020, to correct the spelling of Alex Landon's name.