The giving Back Awards: 15 People Who Make America Great

Nancy Cox was 9 years old when she had her first run-in with the influenza virus. It was 1957, and the so-called Asian flu was making the rounds of her Iowa hometown. Cox, her four siblings and her mother all got sick. "I recall being very ill and having very strange bodily sensations [from the high fever]," Cox says. That year the flu killed some 70,000 Americans. Cox's family recovered, but Nancy had caught an influenza bug of her own. She went on to study bacteriology at Iowa State, then headed to Cambridge University in England, where she earned a Ph.D. in virology. Cox was fascinated by what she calls the "changing nature of the beast," the way flu viruses adapt and jump from animals to humans. In 1976 she landed a fellowship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, figuring she'd return to academia after a few years. But she got hooked on public health. "I wanted to be sure that the work I did was having an impact on people's lives," she says.

Now 57, Cox has devoted her entire career to battling flu for the CDC--where she heads the influenza branch--and the World Health Organization. From inside the bureaucracy, Cox has already saved thousands of lives. Twice a year she identifies strains of virus to be used in the latest flu vaccine. It's an arduous process that never earns her much credit. "There is nobody who puts in such time and attention to making sure things are done right," says Dr. Keiji Fukuda of the WHO. Now facing the possibility of a global avian-flu pandemic, Cox is at work on every front: researching vaccines and devising systems for tracking an outbreak in the United States so that antivirals and protective gear can get where they're needed. "She has worked to mobilize America's government to prevent and prepare for a disaster," says Max Stier, president of the Partnership for Public Service, which has selected Cox as a finalist for its Service to America Medals, honoring extraordinary achievement among government workers.

Together with her CDC team, Cox developed a nasal-swab test for infection with the H5N1 virus, which causes avian flu. Working with colleagues outside the CDC, Cox's team reconstructed the flu virus that killed tens of millions of people in 1918, hoping to learn what made it so deadly. Her team conducted another bold experiment: combining the current H5N1 virus with a contagious human-flu virus (in her ultrasecure lab). "What we're trying to determine is whether or not the avian-flu virus gene and the human-influenza gene can work together," Cox says. If they do, it's a potentially deadly combination. But at least the world will have someone like Cox working on our side.

—Debra Rosenberg

13 - In Uniform

Timothy Hernandez
Queen Creek, Ariz.