Julia Slack Garner

Julia was born in Red Bank, Tennessee to John Holston Slack and Naomi Bryson Slack on June 16, 1940.

She graduated from Grady School of Nursing in 1961 and The Emory School of Nursing with a BSN in 1965 and Master of Nursing in 1966.

Julia had the distinction of being the first Emory School of Nursing graduate and first women to join the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officers. “I was young, good in math, and willing to travel,” Garner says of her EIS experience from 1969 to 1971. In a program that was then populated predominately by male physicians and PhDs, she was also a trailblazer. “I tried to be a good role model,” she adds. She was the only nurse—and woman—in a class of 66.

Julia played a major part in advancing Infection Control efforts, both in the US and in many countries of the world. Her knowledge of the field, matched with her diplomacy and warm personality, made her a perfect representative for CDC and the profession.

After finishing her master’s degree at Emory in public health nursing, she was involved with the CDC, writing numerous courses, books, and articles for public health issues in infection control, epidemiology, and statistics. “I was then invited by the head of the EIS to work on bacterial diseases in hospitals.”

During her career, Julia worked with the World Health Organization and traveled to Kuwait three times as a consultant to the Ministry of Health during the 1980s. Her specialty was hospital infection epidemics and nosocomial (hospital-acquired) prevalence studies, and she wrote numerous studies on infection control. “I always told everyone that I had the best job in the world and got to see the world while doing my work. It was exciting and intellectually stimulating. There was always a new infection or syndrome that presented a challenge,” Julia says.

She retired from the CDC in 1997. Among her many career awards is the CDC’s Hospital Infections Program Lifetime Achievement Award for “significant contributions to infection control, health care epidemiology, and patient protection.”

Julia was preceded in death by her ex-husband, Eugene Garner, her parents, and her long-time, life companion, Charles P. McJunkin. Julia is survived by her life-long friendships of the “Grady Girls” (classmates from the Grady School of Nursing) in which she had many adventures (professionally and personally) and numerous travels and cruises.

Visitation, a memorial service, and a light buffet will be held from 1 pm – 3 pm, Friday, February 10, 2023 at H.M. Patterson & Son-Oglethorpe Hill at 4500 Peachtree Road NE Atlanta, GA 30319. Julia’s final resting place will be Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, Ga.