CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service — Fellowship

The Epidemic Intelligence Service is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s two-year, full-time applied epidemiology fellowship. EIS officers train through service as disease detectives, working with CDC experts and public-health partners to investigate outbreaks and other urgent health threats.

About 90% of the program is supervised, on-the-job training and about 10% is classroom, case-study, exercise, and online instruction. Officers must relocate to their assigned position in the United States and be willing to move at least to Atlanta, Georgia; the Class of 2027 application period is closed.

Benefits & funding

EIS officers are paid at a base rate comparable to federal General Schedule GS-12, step 3, plus locality pay based on the official duty station.
Physicians with an active, unrestricted United States clinical license may receive an additional US$20,000 per year.
Benefits include the Thrift Savings Plan, Federal Employees Retirement System, federal health and life insurance, and federal vision and dental insurance.
Officers accrue 4 hours of annual leave and 4 hours of sick leave every two weeks, totaling 13 days of each per year.
Training includes a one-month orientation and summer course, a one-week fall course, a second-year summer course, the EIS Conference, mentoring, and supervised field assignments.

Eligibility

Applicants must be United States citizens or United States permanent residents. Permanent residents must contact EIS before applying to confirm work authorization, and their Permanent Resident Card must remain valid for the full two-year appointment. Applicants without United States citizenship or permanent-resident status cannot currently be processed.
Physicians must have completed a medical degree and hold an active, unrestricted United States medical license when applying; an applicant finishing an ACGME residency or fellowship may apply with a training license but must hold the unrestricted license by the EIS start date.
Veterinarians must complete their veterinary degree by July 1 of the application year and hold an active, unrestricted United States veterinary license by September 1 of that year.
Nurses must hold at least a BSN and an active, unrestricted United States nursing license when applying. Other doctoral-level clinical professionals must have completed their clinical doctorate and hold an active, unrestricted United States license in their specialty.
Doctoral-level scientists must defend their thesis or dissertation by March 31 of the year they enter EIS. Public-health and related disciplines are typical, while applicants from other doctoral fields may qualify by showing public-health interest or experience.
An MPH alone is not a qualifying degree. An MPH or equivalent quantitative degree, or at least one year of full-time public-health work, is strongly encouraged for clinical applicants but is not a hard requirement.
Selected officers must accept a two-year full-time commitment beginning in July and relocate to their assignment.

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Application process

1
Confirm the applicable professional-degree, licensure, citizenship, and work-authorization requirements on the EIS eligibility page.
2
Prepare education and employment details, unofficial transcripts, postgraduate training, publications, presentations, grants, honors, and personal-statement responses of no more than 300 words per prompt.
3
Arrange three standardized recommendations; at least two must come from people who are not current CDC employees.
4
Upload the required transcripts, professional license for a clinical application, and TOEFL evidence for a permanent resident unless exempt.
5
Submit the online application and all supporting material before the deadline. The application link is unavailable while the cycle is closed.
6
If shortlisted, complete a virtual interview; accepted candidates later attend the EIS Conference in Atlanta before beginning orientation.

Program timeline

March 9, 2026, 8:00 AM ET
Class of 2027 applications opened.
Applications and supporting materials closed.
June 19, 2026, 5:00 PM ET
Application review and interview selection.
June–August 2026
Virtual interviews.
September 2026
Applicants notified of accepted, wait-listed, or rejected status.
By October 2026
Accepted candidates attend the EIS Conference in Atlanta; CDC pays conference travel expenses.
Spring 2027
The two-year fellowship begins with a one-month Atlanta orientation and summer course.
Early July 2027