Posted 3/5/2008

Darlington County native's career goal is to be an officer in
USPHS Commissioned Corps

Tracy Rene Powell, a doctoral candidate at USC's Arnold School of Public Health, is joining the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) as a member of the Junior Commissioned Officer Student Training and Extern Program.

Powell will serve a 100-day tour of duty this summer, as part of a USPHS team working to combat sexually transmitted diseases on a Native American reservation in Arizona.

A native of Lamar, South Carolina, Powell is a second year doctoral student in the Department of Health Services Policy and Management. She earned a bachelor's degree in sociology and a master's degree in social work from USC.

Tracy Rene Powell, center, joins academic friends gathered to congratulate her on joining the USPHS Commissioned Corps. From left, Dr. Sadye Logan, director of the I. DeQuincey Newman Institute for Peace and Social Justice, Dr. Janice Probst, acting head of the Department of Health Services Policy and Management, Dr. Ana Lopez-Defende of the USC Institute for Families in Society and Dr. James McTigue of the Department of Health Services Policy and Management.

Powell said she plans to finish work on her doctorate in May 2009 and return to full-time active duty with the USPHS Commissioned Corps.

The USPHS Commissioned Corps is one of the nation's seven uniformed services. Founded more than 200 years ago, members of the 6,000-member, all-officer corps wear uniforms based upon US Navy tradition. Most ranks in the organization also correspond with naval officer ranks.

The Corps consists exclusively of public health professionals including physicians, dentists, nurses, pharmacists, dieticians, engineers, sanitarians, mental health professionals including psychologists and clinical social workers, physical/ occupational/ speech therapists, research scientists, and veterinarians.

As a commissioned officer, Powell will hold the rank of Ensign. She will be stationed at the PHS Indian Health Service hospital in Sells, AZ where one aspect of her duties will be to serve as a member of a sexually transmitted disease (STD) core team.

The core team is a multi-health sector collaborative working to reduce STD disparities among the Tohono O’odham Nation.

At USC, Powell works as a graduate assistant in the South Carolina Public Health Consortium under the direction of Dr. Lillian Smith.

She also has worked for the University of South Carolina, S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control, Family Connections of South Carolina, Palmetto AIDS Life Support Service and Palmetto Richland Memorial Hospital.

Powell said that besides family and friends, she has received the support of a number of academic mentors including Janice Probst, James McTigue, and Sudha Xirasagar of USC-HSPM, Madeline LaPorta of NCI, Leslie Cooper of USPHS/ NIH, Sadye Logan of USC-COSW, and Ana Lopez- Defede of USC-Institute for Families in Society.