UPDATE FOUR: Hello there, anybody home? Greetings from Jenna, Today I sorted through all the correspondences I have had with the Health and Human Services and the CDC regarding Lyme Corps. I have not yet had any substantive responses to my queries and concerns. Therefore, I drafted and sent the following letter that documents my many communications and an on-going lack of transparency and responsiveness for Lyme Corps. At some point, I anticipate they will notice their communications are on public record through this petition. If not, I will bring it to their attention. Thanks for your help and let’s see what happens next! March 11, 2016 TO: Associate Director for Science Harold Jaffe. Jaffe is a member of the Institute of Medicine of The National Academies and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Associate Director for Policy John Auerbach. Auerbach’s responsibilities include the promotion of public health and prevention as components of health care. Acting Director of the Office of Science Quality Joanne Cono. Cono’s current scientific interests include emerging infectious diseases and public health preparedness. Director of the Office of Scientific Integrity Maryam Daneshvar. Daneshvar responsibilities include ensuring that training relevant to scientific integrity is available to the CDC community. Management Analysis and Services Office (MASO) Director Elaine L. Baker Federal Advisory Committee Management Branch, Acting Branch Chief Catherine Ramadei MASO Ethics and Financial Disclosure Team Leader Gary Johnson Subjects: (1) Transparency concerns regarding the Lyme Corps program; (2) Appearance of preferential treatment for the IDSA in Lyme Corps program; (3) Outdated low-quality scientific and medical content in Lyme Corps Training materials Dear Sirs and Madams, I am writing you regarding the CDC Lyme Corps program and its lack of transparency, substandard scientific and medical integrity and its appearance of preferential treatment for the IDSA Lyme Guidelines. You have been included in this correspondence because Lyme Corps is under your areas of authority and responsibility. The Lyme Corps program trains students pursuing health care degrees (MD, RN, MS, etc.) and public health degrees to provide Lyme disease education and outreach to the public and health care providers (HCPs). The Lyme Corps program “seeks new means of educating HCPs and the public about Lyme disease because: (1) recent surveys indicate that provider practices are often inconsistent with current guidelines and (2) inaccurate information about Lyme disease is disseminated broadly through internet forums, social media, and traditional media.” Once trained by Lyme Corps, participants’ primary responsibilities include: “(1) educating colleagues; (2) educating HCPs via clinic visits and material dissemination; and (3) increasing public knowledge in-person and online.” Lyme Corps implementation initiated in 2013 and appears to be on-going. To date, I have shared my concerns with many persons who I understand to have some measure of responsibility for the program, such as the persons managing and implementing Lyme Corps. In return, I have received a couple of automatic responses that were unrelated to my queries. I also received two polite responses from persons who had no authority over the matters raised. They stated they would forward my correspondences to the appropriate persons/offices. However, they did not share who these persons were, or the names of the divisions and offices responsible for attending to such concerns. I sent the first Lyme Corps Alert on January 14, 2016 and the second Lyme Corps Alert on February 2, 2016 to: CDC Director Thomas Frieden and Deputy Director Anne Schuchat; Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) Beth Bell, Deputy Director Stephen Monroe; and Christina Nelson, epidemiologist for Lyme Corps under the Division of Vector-Borne Diseases (DVBD). These two correspondences resulted in a February 22, 2016 response from Sandra Cashman, Acting Executive Secretary Office of the Chief of Staff. Regarding the outdated science and lack of medical and scientific integrity, the response was: “We have shared your message with our subject matter experts. They will be in touch with you if they have any questions or concerns.” Ms. Cashman’s letter did not acknowledge the issues of preferential treatment for IDSA or the lack of transparency surrounding this non-classified program that trains students pursuing health care degrees to provide Lyme disease education and outreach to health care providers and the public. This uninformative response led me to share these concerns in a February 26, 2016 Letter to Sylvia Mathews Burwell, Secretary, HHS with copy to W. M. Robinson Deputy Executive Secretary to the Department and T. Frieden, CDC Director. This communication also included a more detailed three page Lyme Corps Assessment Brief. To date, there has been no response. On February 5, 2016 and March 8, 2016 I sent correspondences to HHS Office of the General Counsel Designated Agency Ethics Official Elizabeth J. Fischmann. On Wed, Mar 9, 2016 I received a response from this office stating: “While I did review your matter…please note that this office does not have investigative authority. Therefore, we will forward both of your letters/e-mails to the appropriate office within the Department for further action.” On March 10, I sent a more detailed letter to Office of the General Counsel/Ethics asking for contact information of the “appropriate office and persons.” I also added a number of details regarding the transparency issues. I am now corresponding to you with the expectation that you have the authority to take action on these important matters. I have enclosed my three page brief and my most recent correspondences to the OGC/Ethics as I feel they best detail and summarize the Lyme Corps issues. I ask you to provide me the names, email and telephone contact information of the persons responsible for correcting the ethical improprieties, technical weaknesses and lack of transparency that undermines Lyme Corps goals. Furthermore, I ask that you encourage those persons to communicate with me on a professional and technical level as I have 30 years in 40 countries’ experience of working on federal programs – including the health sector, training, social messaging, capacity building, public outreach, policy, institutional audits, management and implementation. I look forward to your response. Please contact me should you have any questions or if I can be of further assistance. Thank you very much, Jenna