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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Jennifer Lemmings, MPH¹, John Abellera, MPH¹, and Dale Morse, MD, MS². (1) Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, 2872 Woodcock Blvd. Suite 303, Atlanta, GA 30341, 770-458-3811, jlemmings@cste.org, (2) NYS Department of Health ESP, Director, Office of Science and Public Health, Tower Building, Room 1420, Albany, NY 12337

Background: In November of 2001, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) conducted a survey structured around the Ten Essential Services of Public Health of state and territorial health departments to assess their epidemiologic capacity. The survey revealed inadequate capacity in all epidemiology program areas, except infectious disease, and insufficient infrastructure to perform those four essential public health services most reliant upon epidemiology. (1) In 2004, CSTE conducted a follow-up survey after the distribution of nearly $2 billion in distributed Federal bioterrorism funds in FY 2002 and found an overall increase in the number of epidemiologists working in state health departments, but also decreased capacity in several epidemiology program areas relative to the 2001 survey. (2)

Methods: An updated (2006) Epidemiology Capacity Assessment (ECA) will be distributed to 50 states, eight territories and the District of Columbia beginning spring 2006.

Results: The 2006 ECA will identify the number of state health department epidemiologists along with their epidemiology training; number of epidemiologists ready to retire; and training opportunities and epidemiology and surveillance capacity within the state health agency.

Learning Objectives:

• To describe the status of epidemiologic and surveillance capacity in state health departments
• To compare and contrast the program development from data collected in 2001 and 2004 with new data collected in 2006
• To describe training and recruiting opportunities

Keywords: Workforce, Epidemiology

Related Web page: www.cste.org/Assessment/ECA/pdffiles/ECAfinal05.pdf

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No