Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #113970

Timothy R. Sahr, MPH, ThM, MDiv, MA, Franklin County, Ohio, District Board of Health, 280 East Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215, 614.462.3608, sahr.6@osu.edu, Frank Holtzhauer, PhD, Ohio State University School of Public Health, 1212 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH 43212, William D. Hayes, PhD, Health Policy Institute of Ohio, 37 West Broad Street, Columbus, OH 43215, Robert Campbell, PhD, Ohio Department of Health, 246 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43266, Greg Halley, MD, Wayne County, Ohio, District Board of Health, 203 South Walnut Street, Wooster, OH 44691, Mark McDonnell, MS, Greene County, Ohio, District Board of Health, 360 Wilson Drive, Xenia, OH 45385, and Robert Brems, MPH, Muskingum County, Ohio, District Board of Health, 333 Putnam Avenue, Zanesville, OH 43701.

In 2003, The Association of Ohio Health Commissioner's Salary and Employment Survey indicated that the level of epidemiology and investigative personnel within Ohio's local health departments varied greatly according to geographic location – with Ohio's metropolitan counties holding strong resources in terms of epidemiology, surveillance, and community risk assessment, while the rural and small population counties exhibited a need for more personnel trained in epidemiology basics. Additionally, this analysis indicated that local health departments in medium and small-sized counties have difficulty recruiting and retaining graduate school trained epidemiologists and public health researchers (e.g., those holding an MPH or MS in a public health or an associated discipline). In response to these findings, a workforce development committee representing Ohio's local and state public health epidemiologists and Ohio's academic public health programs, headed by The Ohio State University School of Public Health, developed the PBE-Series to provide public health practitioners core scientific skills in public health epidemiology. The approach is one of taking existing public health department personnel with practiced-based experience and educating them in the rigors of field practice epidemiology. The teaching philosophy for the PBE-Series is a blend of practice-theory – blending theoretical basics to practice-based application. Five courses over a three year period set the core course offerings for the PBE-Series: (1) Practice-Based Epidemiology using ActivEpi, (2) Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology, (3) Epidemiology of Natural and Man-Made Disasters, (4) Applied Environmental Epidemiology, and (5) Applied Social Epidemiology. Currently, approximately 120 participants are enrolled in the initial series.

Learning Objectives:

• The assessment and addressing of statewide epidemiology skills assets;
• The constructing of workforce development courses relating to practice-based epidemiology at the local health department level;
• The fostering of government-university-private partnerships which enable inclusive stakeholder participation in public health workforce training;
• Exposure to epidemiology course topics for practitioners.

Keywords: Epidemiology, Workforce

Related Web page: www-biostat.med.ohio-state.edu/summer_2005/schedule.shtml

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation