In the Spotlight: Melissa Hawthorne

An experienced environmental health specialist, Melissa Hawthorne has worked as an instructor at FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) for eight years, teaching the CDP’s Environmental Health Training in Emergency Response Operations (EHTER OPS), Disaster Related Exposure Assessment and Monitoring (DREAM), Radiological Emergency Response Operations (RERO), and Radiological Series Train-the-Trainer (Rad TtT) courses.

“I hope every time I stand in front of a class, I am able to use my training and experience to better prepare a student or emergency responder for what they might encounter,” said Hawthorne.

Throughout nearly 25 years in public health, Hawthorne has served in a variety of environmental health; outbreak response; chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, and explosive (CBRNE) incident management; and emergency management positions. In those posts, she responded to a number of incidents, including the 2022 El Paso migrant crisis, COVID-19 initial outbreak response, 2013 Dean Peak wildfire, 2009 H1N1 outbreak, and 1999 E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak.

She is currently a program manager with the El Paso, Texas, Department of Public Health, overseeing their food safety and inspection program.

“If I can provide information, no matter how small, to a responder and they find it useful, then I have accomplished my goal as an instructor,” said Hawthorne.