Captain Hugh M. Mainzer, U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps
Chief Veterinary Officer
CAPT Hugh M. Mainzer has been serving as the Chief Professional Officer for the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) Veterinary Category since May 1, 2007. As Chief Veterinary Officer, CAPT Mainzer is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of USPHS veterinary professional affairs for the Office of the US Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services. He also provides guidance and advice to the Surgeon General and the Veterinary Professional Advisory Committee on matters such as recruitment, retention, career development, and readiness of PHS veterinarians.
CAPT Mainzer has collateral duty as a Supervisory Preventive Medicine Officer and Epidemiologist in the Division of Emergency and Environmental Health Services at the National Center for Environmental Health, a component of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With certification and field experience as a human Emergency Medical Technician/Paramedic and HAZMAT Technician, CAPT Mainzer is a strong advocate for the application of initiatives and activities designed to integrate veterinary proficiencies with the practices of all public health and clinical professionals.
CAPT Mainzer was born in New York City and raised in New York, Waverly, Pennsylvania, and Stamford Connecticut. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Brandeis University and a Master of Science degree in Veterinary Public Health from Texas A&M University. His Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree was earned from Tufts University in 1990. During veterinary school he was commissioned a USPHS Ensign and served three separate short tours in the Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program (COSTEP) assigned to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Following graduation from veterinary school, he received his call to active duty as a Lieutenant in the USPHS and worked as a veterinary clinician for two years at the NIH Animal Center in Poolesville, Maryland. Accepted in CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) in 1992, CAPT Mainzer worked for several years in the Pennsylvania Department of Health as a “Disease Detective” participating in numerous communicable disease outbreak investigations and environmental hazard evaluations.
Following the EIS program, CAPT Mainzer moved to a senior staff position at CDC’s National Immunization Program, where for almost seven years he assisted with investigations of vaccine preventable disease outbreaks in humans and worked with health care providers in several regions of the United States to improve immunization service delivery to the Nation’s infant, child, and adolescent population. During that time, Dr Mainzer completed a short assignment as the temporary State Epidemiologist and deputy State Health Officer for Wyoming. CAPT Mainzer also served as a World Health Organization study group member on the panel which published a 2002 technical report on future trends on veterinary public health.
In December of 2001, CAPT Mainzer joined CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health. In his current role, He also serves as a CDC/ATSDR Incident Management command staff member (Senior Science Officer, Chief Health officer) when activated for natural disaster responses as well as intentional acts of chemical, radiation, or biologic terror. In 2009 he completed 3 years of service as a developer and first commander of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services deployable Applied Public Health Team designed to augment and assist with the provision of essential public health services to communities impacted by natural disaster, act of terror or public health emergency. He has responded and served as a preventive medicine technical advisor, resource coordinator, liaison team lead, and Public Health and Medical Services field office leader following 7 major hurricanes-the most recent being Hurricanes Gustav and Ike in 2008. He assisted with the delivery of environmental health and emergency medical services during the 1996 and 2002 Olympic Games, has assisted the investigation of several cruise ship outbreaks, several large outbreaks of waterborne pathogens as well evaluation of community exposure to mold conditions in homes following heavy floods. Captain Mainzer served as a CDC/ATSDR Environmental and Occupational health team leader as part of the Federal Government’s response activities following the September 2001 attacks as well as the intentional anthrax release in the United States. CAPT Mainzer has co-authored over 20 scientific articles and 4 textbook chapters on topics ranging from animal welfare and reports of communicable disease outbreak responses, to investigations of environmental hazards and evaluations of vaccine delivery programs.
CAPT Mainzer is a Diplomate of the American College of Veterinary Preventive Medicine and served for four years on the specialty’s examination committee. He is also a Fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and an honorary diplomate of the American Veterinary Epidemiological Society. Between 2001 and 2007, CAPT Mainzer has served on the advisory panel of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s House of Delegates and has completed six years of service as a Director of the Commissioned Officers Association of the USPHS (COA) including one year as Chair of its Board of Directors. He is also past president of the American Association of Public Health Veterinarians. CAPT Mainzer has supervised/mentored several EIS officers during his tenure at CDC, is a member of CDC’s Preventive Medicine Residency Advisory Committee, and is adjunct clinical instructor in the Department of Community Medicine and Family Health at the Tufts University School of Medicine and Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental and Population Health at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University. CAPT Mainzer has active licenses to practice veterinary medicine in four states.
CAPT Mainzer’s memberships in professional organizations include the American Veterinary Medical Association, American Public Health Association, and Life memberships in COA, the Association of Military Surgeons of the US and Reserve Officers Associations. He has served two terms on the USPHS Veterinary Professional Advisory Committee, including one year as chairperson, and has been a USPHS associate recruiter.
CAPT Mainzer is a Regular Corps officer and has received numerous awards, including two US Secretary of Health and Human Services Awards for Distinguished Service, a US Vice Presidential National Performance Review (“Hammer”) award, the USPHS Achievement medal, 6 USPHS Outstanding Unit Citations , 3 USPHS Citation medals, 11 USPHS Unit Commendations, 5 USPHS Crisis Response Service Awards, 2 USPHS Special Assignment Service Awards, the USPHS National Emergency Preparedness Award and the USPHS Field Medical Readiness Badge. He is a recipient of the CDC National Immunization Program and National Center for Environmental Health Center Director’s Awards, and received an award in 1997 for outstanding volunteer service to the Atlanta Humane Society.
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