Register Today for the 2014 Public Health Informatics Conference

From April 29 – May 1, 2014, the 2014 Public Health Informatics Conference provides one of the largest venues in the United States for convening an international audience of leaders in the field. This conference will provide direction and guidance for public health organizations navigating through an era of interoperable and integrated health information exchange. Attendees include representatives from domestic and international public health and health care agencies and organizations, as well as research, academic, and technology leaders. Speakers will provide expertise in topic areas such as new technology and tools, security, Integration between public health and health care, surveillance, reporting and tracking, improving practice, global public health informatics. Visit the website to register and for a full schedule of conference sessions and workshops: http://phiconference.org/

The AAAI-14 International Workshop on the World Wide Web and Public Health Intelligence (W3PHI 2014)

The AAAI-14 International Workshop on the World Wide Web and Public Health Intelligence (W3PHI 2014)

In conjunction with the 28th AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-14) July 27–31, 2014 in Québec City, Québec, Canada

(www.w3phi.com)

In the tightly interconnected world of the 21st century, infectious disease pandemics remain a constant threat to global health. At the same time, non-communicable diseases have become the main cause of global disability and death, imposing a crushing burden on societies and economies around the world. Public Health Intelligence obtained through intelligent knowledge exchange and real-time surveillance is increasingly recognized as a critical tool for promoting health, preventing disease, and triggering timely response to critical public health events such as disease outbreaks and acts of bioterrorism. This intelligence is created by increasingly sophisticated informatics platforms that collect and integrate data from multiple sources, and apply analytics to generate insights that will improve decision-making at individual and societal levels.

Driven by omnipresent threats to public health and the potential of public health intelligence, governments and researchers now collect data from many sources, and analyze these data together to estimate the incidence and prevalence of different health conditions, as well as related risk factors. Modern surveillance systems employ tools and techniques from artificial intelligence and machine learning to monitor direct and indirect signals and indicators of disease to enable early, automatic detection of emerging outbreaks and other health-relevant patterns. Given the ever-increasing role of the World Wide Web as a source of data for public health surveillance, accessing, managing, and analyzing its content has brought new opportunities and challenges; particularly for non-traditional online resources such as social networks, blogs, news feed, twitter posts, and online communities due to their sheer size and dynamic structure.

Topics
The workshop will include original contributions on theory, methods, systems, and applications of data mining, machine learning, databases, natural language processing, knowledge representation, artificial intelligence, semantic web, and big data analytics in web-based healthcare applications, with a focus on applications in public health. The scope of the workshop includes, but is not limited to, the following areas:

• Geographical Mapping and Visual analytics for Health Data
  
• Social Media Analytics
  
• Epidemic Intelligence
  
• Predictive modelling and Decision support
  
• Biomedical Ontologies, terminologies and standards
  
• Bayesian Networks and Reasoning under Uncertainty
  

• Temporal and Spatial Representation and Reasoning
  
• Case-based Reasoning in Healthcare
  
• Crowdsourcing, and Collective Intelligence
  
• Risk assessment, Trust, Ethics, and Privacy
  
• Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining
  
• Computational Behavioral/Cognitive Modeling
  

Applications in Epidemiology and Surveillance (e.g. Bioterrorism, Participatory Surveillance)

This workshop aims to bring together a wide range of computer scientists, biomedical and health informaticians, researchers, students, industry professionals, representatives of national and international public health agencies, and NGOs interested in the theory and practice of computational models of web-based public health intelligence to highlight the latest achievements in epidemiological surveillance based on monitoring online communications and interactions on the World Wide Web. The workshop will promote open debate and exchange of opinions among participants.

Format

The workshop will consist of welcome session, keynote and invited talks, full/short paper presentations, demos, posters, and a panel discussion.

Submission requirements

We invite researchers and industrial practitioners to submit their original contributions following AAAI format through EasyChair. Three categories of contribution are sought: full-research papers up to 8 pages; short paper up to 4 pages; and posters and demos up to 2 pages.

Publication
All accepted papers will appear in the AAAI 2014 Workshops Proceedings. We will tentatively invite the best submissions to extend their papers in order to be published in a special issue of a journal. Also the post-workshop proceedings including the extended/revised versions of selected papers will be published in Lecture Notes in Social Networks (Springer).

Important Dates

- Paper submission deadlines: April 10, 2014- Notification of Acceptance: May 1, 2014- Final camera-ready copy hard deadline: May 15, 2014 - Workshop: 27 or 28 July 2014

Workshop Chairs
David L. Buckeridge, MD, PhD,
McGill Clinical & Health Informatics, McGill University
1140 Pine Avenue West,
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A3 CANADA, (514) 398-8355 (tel)
(514) 843-1551 (fax)
Email: david.buckeridge@mcgill.ca Url: http://surveillance.mcgill.ca/
Arash Shaban-Nejad, PhD,
McGill Clinical & Health Informatics, McGill University
1140 Pine Avenue West,
Montreal, Quebec, H3A 1A3 CANADA, (514) 934-1934 ext. 32986 (tel)
(514) 843-1551 (fax)
Email: arash.shaban-nejad@mcgill.ca Url: http://surveillance.mcgill.ca/
John S. Brownstein, PhD
Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard University, Autumn St, Room 451, Boston, MA 02215 USA, (617) 355-6998 (tel)
(617) 730-0921 (fax)
Email: john_brownstein@harvard.edu Url: http://chip.org/john-brownstein

Workshop Scientific Committee:
Mark Musen, Stanford University, USA (musen@stanford.edu)
Nigam Shah, Stanford University, USA (nigam@stanford.edu)
Senjuti Basu Roy, University of Washington, Tacoma, USA (senjutib@gmail.com)
Nigel Collier, National Institute of Informatics, Japan (collier@nii.ac.jp)
David L. Buckeridge, McGill University, Canada (david.buckeridge@mcgill.ca)
Ciro Cattuto, ISI Foundation, Turin, Italy (ciro.cattuto@gmail.com)
Maged Kamel Boulos, University of Plymouth, UK (maged.kamelboulos@plymouth.ac.uk) John S. Brownstein, Harvard University, USA (http://chip.org/john-brownstein)
Masoumeh T. Izadi, McGill University, Canada (mtabae@cs.mcgill.ca)
Jiang Guoqian, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, USA (Jiang.Guoqian@mayo.edu)
Neil F. Abernethy, University of Washington, USA (neila@uw.edu)
Chris Paton, University of Oxford, UK (chris.paton@georgeinstitute.ox.ac.uk)
Christopher J.O. Baker, University of New Brunswick (bakerc@unb.ca)
Alessio Signorini, University of Iowa, USA (alessio-signorini@uiowa.edu)
Arash Shaban-Nejad, McGill University, Canada (arash.shaban-nejad@mcgill.ca)
Jason J. Jung, Yeungnam University, Republic of Korea (j2jung@gmail.com)
Courtney D. Corley, Pacific Northwest National Lab, USA (court@pnnl.gov)
Ameen Abu-Hanna, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands (a.abu-hanna@amc.uva.nl) Anette Hulth, Karolinska Institute, Sweden (anette.hulth@smi.se)
Trevor Cohen, University of Texas Health Science, USA (Trevor.Cohen@uth.tmc.edu) Mark Dredze, Johns Hopkins University, USA (mdredze@cs.jhu.edu)
Noémie Elhadad, Columbia University, USA (noemie@dbmi.columbia.edu) 

CDC Job Openings

Announcement #1:

Position Title: Division Director (Supv Health Scientist):

Location: Atlanta, GA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting for the position of director for the Division for Health Informatics and Surveillance (DH IS), located in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS), Office of Public Health Scientific Services. The selectee will lead and manage a professional staff engaged in the science and practice of public health surveillance and informatics. The director will assume responsibility for managing and overseeing various national surveillance systems including Bio Sense, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS); National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS); and the National Notable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The ideal candidate should possess:

· Executive leadership and management ability to lead a large multidisciplinary public health organization;

· Expert knowledge in surveillance and informatics and their integration;

· Knowledge of state and local public health practices;

· The ability to lead others in the translation data to achieve a desired public health outcome; and

· High-level ability to lead others in the design and management of government contracts. 

In addition, desirable candidates should possess broad, proven knowledge in the field of public health, public health informatics and surveillance, proven managerial experience in public health informatics, and the ability to advance the scientific and public health impact of DHIS.

The division has an annual operating budget of over $66 million, and a diverse workforce of approximately 175 employees and contract staff. The position is located in CDC’s Atlanta Headquarters, at the Century Center campus. For more information on CDC, CSELS and DHIS, visit http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/. An organizational chart can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/maso/pdf/CSELS.pdf.

Salary: The salary range for this position is $120,034 - $156,043 annually. Relocation and/or recruitment incentives may be authorized.

See below for information on how to apply for this position. Questions regarding the application process should be directed to Human Resources (civil service) Help Desk – 770-488-1725 or hrcs@cdc.gov.  Any additional questions should be directed to Paula Burch 404-498-6454 or pxb3@cdc.gov.

HOW TO APPLY: Applications are NOT accepted via email. To be considered, apply before midnight EST on 04/21 at: https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/364546300

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Announcement #2:

Position Title: Division Director (Medical Officer):

Location: Atlanta, GA

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting for the position of director for the Division for Health Informatics and Surveillance (DHIS), located in the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services (CSELS), Office of Public Health Scientific Services. The selectee will lead and manage a professional staff engaged in the science and practice of public health surveillance and informatics. The director will assume responsibility for managing and overseeing various national surveillance systems including Bio Sense, the National Electronic Disease Surveillance System (NEDSS); National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance (NETSS); and the National Notable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS). The ideal candidate should possess:

· Executive leadership and management ability to lead a large multidisciplinary public health organization;

·  Expert knowledge in surveillance and informatics and their integration;

·  Knowledge of state and local public health practices;

·  The ability to lead others in the translation data to achieve a desired public health outcome; and

·  High-level ability to lead others in the design and management of government contracts. 

In addition, desirable candidates should possess broad, proven knowledge in the field of public health, public health informatics and surveillance, proven managerial experience in public health informatics, and the ability to advance the scientific and public health impact of DHIS.

The division has an annual operating budget of over $66 million, and a diverse workforce of approximately 175 employees and contract staff. The position is located in CDC’s Atlanta Headquarters, at the Century Center campus. For more information on CDC, CSELS and DHIS, visit http://www.cdc.gov/ophss/csels/. An organizational chart can be found at http://www.cdc.gov/maso/pdf/CSELS.pdf.

Salary: The salary range for this position is $120,034 - $156,043 annually. Relocation and/or recruitment incentives may be authorized.

See below for information on how to apply for this position. Questions regarding the application process should be directed to Human Resources (civil service) Help Desk – 770-488-1725 or hrcs@cdc.gov.  Any additional questions should be directed to Paula Burch 404-498-6454 or pxb3@cdc.gov.

HOW TO APPLY: Applications are NOT accepted via email. To be considered, apply before midnight EST on 04/21, 2014 at:

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/357699800

Fridays from the Archives: Bicycle-related Injury Surveillance

Thursday, March 20, 2014: Bicycle-related Injury Surveillance

Admittedly, it's not quite Friday yet, but it's never too early for Fridays from the Archives.

Today is the official start of spring. For some of you lucky folks that means flowers are blooming and it's warm enough for short sleeves. For those of us in New England, spring is more like the final gasp of winter. But we know that, soon enough, we will be able to shed our heavy coats and venture outdoors.

In Boston spring comes with an ever-growing flood of bicyclists. In just two years (between 2007 and 2009) there was a 122% increase in bicycle commuter ridership. As a result, beginning in 2007, Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) started to quantify the bike injury burden and characterize bicycle-related injury (BRI) visits in Boston, based on emergency department (ED) visit data.

Marcus Rennick, MPH and Aileen Shen, MPH, described the process involved in developing and utilizing this novel BRI syndrome definition in an April 2012 ISDS webinar. A combination of chief complaints and ICD-9 CM codes were utilized to characterize ED visits as BRI. The BRI syndrome differs greatly from more commonly used syndromes (GI, ILI, etc.) and represents the malleability and flexibility of syndromic surveillance methodology in public health practice.

As a result of this project BPHC was able to identify both neighborhoods and age groups at greatest risk. This information is used to target bike lane development and educational activities, such as promoting helmet use when riding a bike.

For more information on Rapid Surveillance and Data Integration: A Syndromic Description of Bicycle-Related Injury in Boston please visit the ISDS website.



This post is part of the series Fridays from the Archives. You can access all posts in the series here.

Written by Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst (bzwickl@syndromic.org). 

Fridays from the Archives: Cancer Surveillance & 9/11

Friday, March 7, 2014: Cancer Surveillance & 9/11

Whenever there is a mass casualty event the full, long-term effects may not be clear for years. After the terrorist attacks in New York on September 11, 2001, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) quickly realized that there was a risk for excess cancer to anyone exposed to the area surrounding the World Trade Center. In September 2012 Jiehui Li, MBBS, MS, Steven D. Stellman, PhD, MPH, and James E. Cone, MD, MPH recapped NYC DOHMH's current state of post-exposure risk surveillance in the webinar, Association between WTC exposure and excess cancer risk.

Specifically focused on three types of cancer (prostate, thyroid, and multiple myeloma), this presentation provides background on the 3-wave survey methodology used to gather risk information. The type of exposure incurred on 9/11 is fairly well known and includes PAH, benzene, PCBs and asbestos. However, dosage information is unknown and latency periods for most cancers are long, complicating the conclusion of a link between exposure and subsequent cancer cases.

The webinar focuses mainly on methodology, results, strengths, and limitations. Key to the success of this project, though, is the fact that NYC DOHMH began surveillance within a year of the causal event.  This type of forward thinking allowed a comprehensive approach to monitoring the health of people exposed to 9/11 contagions.

For more information, and to view the full set of slides and webinar recording, please visit the webinar page on the ISDS website.

This post is part of the series Fridays from the Archives. You can access all posts in the series here.

Written by Becky Zwickl, MPH, ISDS Public Health Analyst (bzwickl@syndromic.org).

Job Announcement: Recruitment for CDC's Injury Center Director

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is actively recruiting a Director for the National Center Injury Prevention and Control (the CDC Injury Center). CDC welcomes your consideration for the position or help in identifying qualified candidates.

For more than 20 years, the CDC Injury Center has helped protect Americans from injury and violence. As the nation's leading authority on injury and violence, the CDC Injury Center studies injuries and violence and the best ways to prevent them, applying science for real-world solutions to keep people safe, healthy, and productive. The CDC Injury Center Director will lead national efforts for non-occupational injury prevention and control, including the prevention of prescription drug overdose, motor vehicle-related injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and violence against child and youth. Prevention is the most effective, common-sense way to improve health and lower economic costs related to injuries and violence.

The CDC Injury Center's priority is to equip states, local communities, and partner organizations with the best science, tools, and resources so that they can take effective action to save lives and protect people from injuries and violence.  By leading an organization of over 250 staff, the Director will provide the vision and direction to accomplish CDC's strategic imperatives and goals, and lead and manage the performance of the organization.  In addition, he or she will partner with state and local health agencies, private organizations, and other Federal agencies to reduce violence and monitor injury related health issues.

Below are the links to the job description, which will remain open until April 11th, 2014.
·     PhD or equivalent advanced degree:  HHS-CDC-AD-14-1051258
·     MDs only: HHS-CDC-AD-14-1056920

For questions about this position, please contact:
·     Ed Hunter - elh1@cdc.gov - (202) 245-0600
·     Sandy Bonzo - seb2@cdc.gov - (770) 488-0523

For questions about the application process, please contact:
·     Vicky Hunter - VHunter@cdc.gov - (404) 639-7124

CSTE Focus Group Pilot Needs Participants

CSTE is leading a scientific writing capacity assessment and is looking for epidemiologists to participate in the pilot focus groups.  The assessment objective is to assess current themes and issues that epidemiologists experience in state and local health departments surrounding formal publishing.  The pilot data collection will occur between March 10-21, 2014.

CSTE invites you to participate in the pilot focus group if:

• You are an epidemiologist (do not have to be a CSTE member);

• You work at a state or local health department;

• You can commit to participate in the 1.5 hour focus group session.

If you meet the above criteria and are interested in participating in the pilot focus group, please email Jessica Pittman at JPittman@cste.org no later than Friday, March 7th, 2014.

University of Michigan's Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology: e-Surveillance

Dates: July 21- 25, 2014
Time: 8:30am - 12:00pm

The University of Michigan's Graduate Summer Session in Epidemiology is offering a new course in 2014: e-Surveillance (EPID 795 e-Surveillance).

The e-Surveillance course is designed to familiarize students with the emerging practices and principles of public health surveillance in the 21st-century. The course will describe how new opportunities in governance, inter- and intra-agency collaborations, information and communication technologies (ICT), cutting edge analytic tools and techniques, novel data sources, and a dynamic workforce are fundamentally transforming the future of public health surveillance. This course will demonstrate how core functions of public health surveillance including detection, registration, confirmation, analysis, feedback, communication, and response can be enabled, enhanced, and empowered by these new opportunities.

Course flyer

Learn more