Navigating Change: Global Health, AIDS, CDC and the UN

by Deborah L. Rugg

Young people today, especially young women, face some of the same challenges I did over the past 40 years coming up through the ranks in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in top leadership roles in the United Nations, and in starting my own business. Much has changed of course, but not nearly enough!
My hope in sharing the challenges I faced personally and professionally in journeying through foreign landscapes in over 100 countries, battling pandemics and politics, witnessing tragedies and triumphs, fighting for science and truth, and facing my own personal struggles and professional setbacks...is that the essence of my truths and how I bounced back might help others. My strong advice is to never ever give up!

Paperback

Published August 17, 2022

Reviews

[Juha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full disclosure: i know Deborah and have worked quite closely with her about a decade ago. She is quite extraordinary and it comes through well in this very personal memoir. Her energy and passion are palpable in the text. What I found most interesting in the book were her memories from her childhood and how they clearly shaped her persona. Equally interesting were the stories of the early career steps as a university researcher-cum-activist. All in all, in my view, the first half of the book was somewhat better, all the way to her time at UNAIDS in Geneva. In these parts she was open about her own personal feelings and challenges. The last part, at the UN in New York, by contrast felt a bit dry and hurried, as if she was rushing through this important period.