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Nursing Alumnus Shares Career Advice with BSN Students

Bertulfo (center) with Professor Joan Castleman (right) and Dr. Jo Snider, Chair of the Department of Health Care Environments and Systems, both of whom he knew as a student.

Since receiving his Bachelor of Science in Nursing from UF in 1993, alumnus Joseph Bertulfo, MPH, MSN, NP-C, has seen his share of disaster. Whether a devastating hurricane or a major flu outbreak, he has used his education and skills to effectively respond to these crises in his role at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC). He currently serves as the CDC’s Acting Deputy Director for the Division of Applied Sciences in the Scientific Education and Professional Development Program Office.

Since joining the CDC in 2003, he has worked on various projects engaging with health care and business partners to advance CDC initiatives on public health issues. Following the Hurricane Katrina disaster, Mr. Bertulfo established the CDC Emergency Operations Partners Desk to coordinate CDC’s emergency response activities with the private sector.

For the next four years he led emergency preparedness activities and gained advanced training and field experience in emergency coordination and mass casualty response. During this time, he received the U.S. Public Health Service Chief Nurse Officer Award and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Award for Distinguished Service for his work in emergency preparedness. In 2009, he served as the Acting Healthcare Sector Lead and initiated outreach efforts to direct-care health professionals addressing the use and safety of the H1N1 vaccine.

In Fall 2010, Bertulfo came back to the UF campus to visit and speak with Clinical Associate Professor Joan Castleman’s community health nursing class about his career path and experiences at the CDC.

Bertulfo is married to a fellow Gator Nurse, Tara Bertulfo (BSN 1992), and they have two children, Jeremy and Jillian. He also serves as a member of the UF Nursing Alumni Council.

If you are interested in coming back to campus and sharing your career experiences with studnets, please contact Tracy Wright, Director of Public Relations and Alumni Affairs, at tracyb@ufl.edu.