Marcia Kerr is a graduate of California State University at Los Angeles. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Biology with an emphasis on Zoology and Microbiology. She attended two years of graduate school at the same university, studying Animal Behavior and Herpetology. Public health and injury prevention training has included completion of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Injury Control Workshop in 1990 and a University of Alabama, Birmingham, Injury Research Center Injury Control Workshop in 1991. Ms. Kerr has held a variety of positions in fields related to biology, public health and safety. From 1977 to 1981 she worked as the first female animal keeper in the reptile house at the Los Angeles Zoo. She then held the position of Animal Control Officer Supervisor for the City of Glendora Police Department from 1983 to 1984. In 1987, Ms. Kerr moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She took a position with the State of Florida’s Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) in the Children, Youth and Family Services Foster Care Counselor program. The following year a family tragedy sparked her interest in injury prevention after her two-year-old son drowned in the family’s backyard pool. In 1990 she was promoted to the HRS Broward County Public Health Unit, to serve as one of five new Injury Prevention Coordinators. The primary focus was drowning prevention. This new Florida statewide project was funded by CDC. Late in 1991, Ms. Kerr moved back to Southern California and was selected for the position of Public Affairs Specialist with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. She is currently a CPSC Investigator located in the Commission’s Los Angeles Area Office, Lake Forest, California. Ms. Kerr continues to be active in swimming pool safety. She presented at seven of the eight annual National Drowning Prevention Symposiums and was keynote luncheon speaker at the 2nd annual event.
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