Commander Djenaba A. Joseph, MD, MPH

Djenaba A. Joseph, MD, MPH, is board certified in internal medicine and is a Commander in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. She joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer in the Division of Cancer Prevention and Control (DCPC) from 2005–2007. She remained in DCPC as a medical officer and is currently the Medical Director of CDC's Colorectal Cancer Control Program (CRCCP).

The CRCCP provides funding to 25 states and 4 tribes across the United States for five years with a goal to increase colorectal (colon) cancer screening rates among men and women aged 50 years and older from about 64% to 80% in the funded states by 2014. An increase in screening rates will reduce illness and death from colorectal cancer.

Dr. Joseph completed her undergraduate education at the University of Michigan, earned her medical degree from the University of Michigan's Medical School, and a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. She completed her residency in general internal medicine at St. Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dr. Joseph then went on to practice as a hospitalist in St. Louis, MO, before returning to Michigan to practice general internal medicine and teach internal medicine residents at a community hospital outside Detroit. Dr. Joseph continues to provide clinical services at the Atlanta Veteran's Administration Medical Center. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

The most recent articles Dr. Joseph has first-authored include—

• 2011 The Colorectal Cancer Control Program: partnering to increase population-level screening.
• 2009 Association between glomerular filtration rate, free, total, and percent free prostate-specific antigen.
• 2008 Understanding the burden of human papillomavirus-associated anal cancers in the U.S.
• 2008 Use of colorectal cancer tests—United States, 2002, 2004, and 2006.
• 2007 Use of state cancer surveillance data to estimate the cancer burden in disaster-affected areas—Hurricane Katrina, 2005.

Dr. Joseph is featured in the following podcasts—

• Cancer by sex (1:00) [read tip]
• Common Cancers
• Don't Pass on This Test