ISDS Job Opening: Executive Director

The International Society for Disease Surveillance is currently accepting applications for an Executive Director position.

Summary:
The Executive Director of the International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS) functions as the Chief Executive Officer of the society and provides leadership and direction for ISDS in collaboration with the Board of Directors.  The Executive Director is responsible for overall strategic planning, setting annual goals and objectives, revenue generation, financial management, organizational development, implementation of policies set by the Board of Directors as well as administrative management of the Society. The Executive Director reports to the ISDS Board President and Executive Committee.
The Executive Director is responsible for identifying, developing and implementing policies and programs which support the ongoing work of the Society. The Society’s work is primarily organized through the activities of specific committees, including: Public Health Practice, Education and Training, Research, and Global Outreach.

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Call for Pre-Conference "Data Dashboards and Visualizations for Biosurveillance" Swap Meet Presenters

The 2010 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshop will be the second time the so-called "Swap Meet" will be held.  The idea of the "Swap Meet" is to create a setting where presenters and participants can interact, discuss, and share information in a less formal environment.   

This year the pre-conference workshop committee would like to include a "Swap Meet" table on the topic of "Data Dashboards and Visualizations for Biosurveillance."  We are asking for interested individuals/groups to share these data dashboards and visualizations in a poster format, handouts, or laptop demo.  We also strongly encourage the sharing of code, if possible.   

Depending on the response to this request we will be sure to have one or two poster boards available, as well as table(s) where laptops could be set up.  For the most up to date information on the pre-conference workshop, please check the agenda posted on syndromic.org.  If you have any questions please contact Aaron Kite-Powell.  We are looking forward to seeing you at the conference!

Syndromic Surveillance Experts Will Recommend Standards for Stage 1 Meaningful Use

Brighton, Massachusetts –  The International Society for Disease Surveillance (ISDS), with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s BioSense Program has convened a Meaningful Use Workgroup to define current syndromic surveillance business standards and data requirements that best support Stage 1 meaningful use of electronic health record (EHR) technology by public health departments.

In this first project phase, the Workgroup will develop a provisional business process model (BPM), to inform minimum data specifications for syndrome-based public health surveillance.  

An interim Stage 1 Meaningful Use recommendation for EHR vendors on syndromic surveillance data specifications will be released in October and will be ready for public comment starting in November. 

A final Stage 1 Meaningful Use recommendation for syndromic surveillance will incorporate public comments and be released in January, 2011.

ISDS is coordinating this initiative with the Joint Public Health Informatics Taskforce (JPHIT). HLN Consulting, LLC (San Diego, CA), will provide analytic support to the workgroup.

ISDS’s Meaningful Use workgroup consists of seven expert syndromic surveillance practitioners from state and local public health authorities in Florida, Washington, Virginia, Indiana, Georgia, New York, and Boston, MA.

The International Society for Disease Surveillance works to improve population health by advancing the science and practice of surveillance to support timely and effective prevention and response. We facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration, and promote and conduct research, education, and advocacy.

Contact:

Charles Ishikawa, M.S.P.H.

CDC BioSense Redesign Collaboration Site Launch

The following is an announcement from our colleagues at CDC, who recently announced the launch of the new BioSense Collaboration Site: 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Healthcare Information, Public Health Surveillance Program Office, Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Services is pleased to announce the launch of the BioSense Redesign Collaboration Site on Wednesday, September 1, 2010.

The collaboration site is the centerpiece of the BioSense Redesign process and features a variety of informative and interactive elements, including a resource library and community forum.  The site also fosters and encourages a transparent community for information exchange among key stakeholders, interested users, and the BioSense Redesign team.  Designed to provide BioSense users and stakeholders with an efficient means of information sharing, the collaboration portal also provides users with the opportunity to

•   follow the project as it progresses,

•   provide input,

•   communicate and exchange ideas with one another, and

•   correspond with the BioSense Redesign team.

The comprehensive and collaborative approach of the BioSense Redesign will ensure the program meets the needs of the diverse users, spurs innovative practices to enhance public health surveillance, and becomes a valuable tool for promoting and protecting the health of our nation.

Please take a moment to visit the site at https://sites.google.com/site/biosenseredesign, and let us know what you think of the site and how we can make it more useful.  Users can provide anonymous comments on the community forum, or send comments to Biosense.redesign2010@gmail.com.

Sincerely,

Taha A. Kass-Hout, MD, MS Deputy Director (Acting) for Information Science and BioSense Program Manager Division of Healthcare Information Public Health Surveillance Program Office Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, & Laboratory Services Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Sam Groseclose, DVM, MPH, DACVPM (Epi) Director (Acting) Division of Healthcare Information Public Health Surveillance Program Office Office of Surveillance, Epidemiology, & Laboratory Services Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Upcoming Webinar: August Literature Review and Presentation on Seasonal Synchronization of Influenza

The ISDS Research Committee will be hosting its bi-monthly Literature Review this Thursday, August 26th at 12:00 pm EST. 

In addition to the regularly scheduled review session, there will be a presentation by Elena Naumova, PhD, on her recent publication entitled "Seasonal Synchronization of Influenza in the United States Older Adult Population."  Dr. Naumova is a professor in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine and the Director of the Tufts Initiative for the Forecasting and Modeling of Infectious Diseases at Tufts University School of Medicine. 

The first half hour of the call will consist of the regularly scheduled review of notable publications in the last two months, followed by Dr. Naumova's presentation at 12:30 pm EST.

To access the list of recent publications, please contact us.

Register for the webinar here.  

Call for Proposals for Session Addressing Data Quality at the 2010 Annual Conference

The Scientific Program Committee is seeking proposals for a special conference session addressing data quality. The purpose of the session is to highlight methodologies and “best practices” used to monitor data quality. Examples include:

• Using indicators to identify problems with data quality (e.g., essential data quality checks that should be routinely employed to monitor data quality);
• Tools (e.g., visualizations, dashboards) developed to audit data quality;
• Techniques for anticipating changes to data quality when data sources or data elements change over time;
• Procedures for resolving data quality challenges. 

Proposals should be brief (no longer than 1 page, 12 pt font) and are due no later than September 3^rd, 2010*. The format of the session (e.g., panel of speakers, oral presentations, discussion forum, poster presentations, working group) will be chosen based on the number of quality submissions received. Proposals for this session will be reviewed by the Scientific Program Committee, and you will receive notification of a decision by October 15, 2010.

 *For full submission guidelines, please visit the ISDS website.  

Upcoming Book Release: "Biosurveillance: Methods and Case Studies"

This entry is being cross-posted from Biosurveillance 2.0, a blog by Taha Kass-Hout, MD, MS, who recently announced the upcoming release of his new book, Biosurveillance: Methods and Case Studies.

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My new book on Biosurveillance is scheduled for release on September 17th, 2010. The book:

• Provides a synopsis of current state-of-the-art practices as well as a starting point for the development and evaluation of new methods
• Covers applied research and complete case studies in biosurveillance that focus on local, regional and national implementation
• Presents techniques from other fields, such as intelligence and engineering
• Explores future innovations in biosurveillance, including advances in analytical methods, modeling, and simulation
• Addresses policy and organizational issues related to the construction of biosurveillance systems

“While having its roots in 21st Century infectious disease threats to health on a grand scale, biosurveillance has come to encompass a broader scope of the science and practice of managing population health-related data and information so that effective action can be taken to mitigate adverse health effects from urgent threats. This expansive scope is reflected in the diverse collection of reports and perspectives brought together in this text, Biosurveillance." — From the Foreword by Daniel M. Sosin, MD, MPH, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Table of Contents

• Timeliness of Data Sources, Lynne Dailey, PhD, MPH, BSc.
• Simulating and Evaluating Biosurveillance Datasets, Thomas H. Lotze, Galit Shmueli, Lotze, Shmueli, Yahav Inbal Yahav, and Robert H. Smith
• Remote Sensing-Based Modeling of Infectious Disease Transmission, Richard K. Kiang, Farida Adimi, Radina P. Soebiyanto
• Integrating Human Capabilities into Biosurveillance Systems: A Study of Biosurveillance and Situation Awareness, Cheryl A. Bolstad, Haydee M. Cuevas, Jingjing Wang-Costello, Mica R. Endsley, Walton John Page, and Taha Kass-Hout
• The Role of Zoos in Biosurveillance, Julia Chosy, PhD, Janice Mladonick, and Tracey McNamara, DVM
• HealthMap, Amy L. Sonricker, MPH, Clark C. Freifeld, Mikaela Keller, PhD, John S. Brownstein, PhD
• The Role of SMS Text Messaging to Improve Public Health Response, Elizabeth Avery Gomez, Ph.D.
• Using Prediction Markets to Forecast Infectious Diseases, Philip M. Polgreen, MD, MPH, and Forrest D. Nelson, PhD
• The Role of Data Aggregation in Public Health and Food Safety Surveillance, Artur Dubrawski
• Introduction to China’s Infectious Disease Surveillance System, Jin Shuigao and Ma Jiaqi
• Biosurveillance and Public Health Practice: A Case Study of North Carolina’s NC DETECT System, S. Cornelia Kaydos-Daniels, PhD, MSPH; Lucia Rojas Smith, DrPH,, MPH; Amy I. Ising, MSIS; Clifton Barnett, MSIS; Tonya Farris, MPH;, Anna E. Waller, ScD; and Scott Wetterhall, MD, MPH
• Aberration Detection in R Illustrated by Danish mortality monitoring, Michael Höhl and, Anne Mazick
• User Requirements toward a Real-Time Biosurveillance Program, Nuwan Waidyanatha and Suma Prashant
• Using Common Alerting Protocol to Support a Real-Time Biosurveillance Program in Sri Lanka and India, Gordon A. Gow and Nuwan Waidyanatha
• Navigating the Information Storm: Web-Based Global Health Surveillance in BioCaster, Nigel Collier, Son Doan, Reiko Matsuda Goodwin, John McCrae, Mike Conway, Mika Shigematsu, and Ai Kawazoe
• A Snapshot of Situation Awareness: Using the NC DETECT System to Monitor the 2007 Heat Wave, David B. Rein
• Linking Detection to Effective Response, Scott F. Wetterhall, MD, MPH, Taha A. Kass-Hout, MD, MS , and David L. Buckeridge, MD, PhD

By reading this book, I hope you reap from it lessons and insights to apply in your work for a lifetime.
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