Education

MD Medicine, University of California (San Francisco), 1983
MPH Epidemiology, University of California (Berkeley), 1981
MS Health Sciences, University of California (Berkeley), 1981

Contact

404-639-2208
rxq1@cdc.gov

Bio

Robert Quick, MD, MPH is a medical epidemiologist in the Waterborne Diseases Prevention Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He received his medical training at the University of California, San Francisco, obtained an MPH from the University of California, Berkeley, completed residencies in family practice and preventive medicine, and worked as medical director and clinician at the Indian Health Service hospital in Bethel, Alaska. For the past 25 years, he has worked at CDC, conducting research on the etiology, control, and prevention of enteric diseases in the developing world. His work on cholera in Latin America and Africa revealed the seriousness and extent of the problem of lack of access to safe water and sanitation in the developing world and inspired a research focus on waterborne diseases and their prevention. With colleagues at CDC and the Pan American Health Organization, he developed the Safe Water System, a simple, inexpensive household based water quality intervention, and has conducted field trials in Latin America, Africa, and Asia to establish the evidence base regarding its use and dissemination (www.cdc.gov/safewater). More recently, he has conducted field trials of other water treatment technologies, and has designed, implemented, and evaluated projects that integrate water treatment technologies, handwashing, and other public health interventions (including micronutrient Sprinkles, improved cookstoves, HIV counseling and testing, rapid syphilis screening, and nurse training) with maternal and child health services, school programs, and HIV care and support services. To carry out this work in the developing world, he has collaborated with numerous partners from the public and private sectors, Rotary Club, NGOs, UN agencies, and academic institutions.