2013 ISDS Conference Poster Award Winner

Congratulations to Jessica Sell - the winner of the 2013 ISDS Conference Poster Award. Her poster, 'Evaluating a seasonal ARIMA model for event detection in New York City' was selected based on aesthetics and content.

Jessica Sell is an analyst in the Syndromic Surveillance Unit within the Bureau of Communicable Disease at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.

To view the abstract and/or poster, please click here.

BioSense Testing at 2013 ISDS Conference

The BioSense Redesign team would like to invite you to participate in our one-on-one user testing sessions at the upcoming ISDS conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on Thursday, December 12, and Friday, December 13, 2013. This invitation provides further details. Thank you for your interest.

The CDC BioSense Program provides local, state, and federal partners a timely regional and national picture of trends in disease syndromes and situation awareness. BioSense has been redesigned by RTI International to shift the program's focus to meet the needs of stakeholders and end users in state and local health departments, CDC programs, hospitals, and other federal agencies (i.e., DoD and VA) to improve regional and national coverage. You can learn more about the Program by watching this brief video: http://vimeo.com/32199430 and visiting the BioSense Collaboration Web site https://sites.google.com/site/biosenseredesign/.

A major part of the redesign is conducting one-on-one user testing sessions with potential BioSense 2.0 users. At ISDS this year, we are focusing on the BioSense 2.0 Collaboration Web site, a resource that provides information about BioSense 2.0 to all interested parties. The results of the testing sessions will allow us to make useful enhancements and updates to the Web site.

By taking part in this evaluation, you have the opportunity to influence the design of the BioSense 2.0 Collaboration Web site. If you are interested in meeting with us, please contact us at BioSense.User@gmail.com and we will work with you to schedule a convenient time.

During the Session:

We will describe real-world scenarios to you and ask you to use the Web site to work through the activities. We’ll ask you to describe your experience as you use the site. In addition, the computer that you use to complete the tasks on the BioSense 2.0 Collaboration Web site will capture data such as time-on-task, navigation of the site, and visual areas of interest that will help us to improve the site.

Highlighting the 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshop: Introduction to Mapping for Disease Surveillance

Date: December 11, 2013

Location: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, LA, USA 

The pre-conference workshops are professional development trainings that take place in coordination with the annual ISDS conference. These community-generated workshops are developed to address the professional needs of the disease surveillance workforce. This year, there are four training options, with 'Track 4: Introduction to Mapping for Disease Surveillance' featured below.

Presenters

• David Buckeridge, McGill University
• Luc de Montigny, McGill University
• David Kehrlein, Esri, Inc.

Description

This Workshop includes three components: 1) a concise theoretical introduction to Geographic Information Systems (GIS), geospatial data and exploratory spatial data analysis in the context of disease surveillance; 2) hands-on training to use QGIS (a free, open-source GIS) to make maps and con+duct basic geographic analysis using health data; and 3) an overview of ArcGIS, the industry-standard GIS. Note: There may be pre-assignments sent to registrants prior to the Workshop in order to maximize time and to facilitate greater efficiency on the overall flow of the workshop. Additional online resources/tutorials will be provided and are highly recommended for registrants unfamiliar with GIS/mapping.

Learn more.

Highlight on 2013 Pre-Conference Workshop: Using R for Disease Surveillance

Target Audience

The target audience of this Workshop is healthcare providers, public health practitioners, graduate students, and researchers.

Presenters

• Ian Painter, University of Washington
• Yevgeniy Elberts, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory

Description

The public health workforce (public health practitioners, healthcare providers, and academicians in research settings) require data, as well as analysis and visualization of that data, to enable and provide informed decision-making, whether clinically-based or policy-based. Continued budgetary restrictions and funding cuts have somewhat hindered the ability to purchase commercial products and applications; therefore, public health has a strong need for exposure to and training with open-source products and tools for data collection, analysis, and visualization. R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It provides a variety of statistical and graphical techniques, and is extensible (http://www.r-project.org/). As an open-source product, R is freely available, and, thus, optimal for use in a variety of settings. This Workshop is a hands-on training in how to use R for epidemiology, disease surveillance and high-quality data visualizations. Note: There will be pre-assignments sent to registrants prior to the Workshop in order to maximize time and to facilitate greater efficiency on the overall flow of the workshop. Additional online resources/tutorials will be provided and are highly recommended for registrants unfamiliar with the R language and environment.

Agenda (Tentative)

Register

2013 ISDS Award for Outstanding Student Abstract: Awardees

The ISDS Research Committee developed the Award for Outstanding Student Abstract in order to recognize the exemplary work being done by students in the field of biosurveillance.

ISDS is please to announce the 2013 Awardees:

Katherine Harmon, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill for the abstract ‘Utilization of Emergency Department Data for Drug Overdose Surveillance in North Carolina.’

Abstract Summary: The United States is in the midst of a drug overdose epidemic, primarily due to opioid analgesics. Emergency department data are an important source of morbidity data for public health surveillance. This population-based study will describe visits to North Carolina emergency departments for drug, and more specifically, opioid overdoses.

Mollie Kotzen, New York University for the abstract ‘Using Syndromic Surveillance to Investigate Tattoo-related Skin Infections in NYC.’

 

Abstract Summary: Mycobacterium chelonae is not reportable in NYC. To investigate tattoo-associated M. chelonae infections, we used NYC ED syndromic surveillance for case finding and trend analysis. No significant trend emerged from 5 years of ED surveillance data. Thirty-one ED visits for tattoo complications were identified in the five-month period preceding a reported case of M. chelonae. Fourteen patients were interviewed, and were suspected or confirmed with M. chelonae. Syndromic surveillance is an option for case finding when the event under surveillance is described by a unique and specific word or phrase, such as tattoo.

They will present their work at the 2013 ISDS Conference in December.

For more information about the award, please visit the Award webpage.

2013 Rick Heffernan Award for Public Health Practice Announced: Don Olson

ISDS is pleased to announce that the winner of the first annual Rick Heffernan Award for Public Health Practice is Don Olson. The award was established to honor Rick Heffernan, an early leader in the field of biosurveillance, and founding member and constant supporter of ISDS, who passed away in February 2013. Don has been named this year’s awardee in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of biosurveillance. Don has continuously pursued an innovative research agenda that has directly contributed to improving the practice of public health surveillance. His leadership on the DiSTRIBuTE project solidified the ISDS "community of practice," and helped establish the value of a surveillance system that spans jurisdictions. Don has emulated Rick’s support, energy, and enthusiasm for promoting the concept of, and the science behind, distributed surveillance.

Learn more about the Rick Heffernan Award for Public Health Practice here.

Highlight 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshop: Public Health Surveillance and Policy Issues for Experts

Date: December 11, 2013

Location: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

The Pre-Conference Workshops are professional development trainings that take place in coordination with the annual ISDS conference. These community-generated workshops are developed to address the professional needs of the disease surveillance workforce. This year, there are four training options, with ‘Track 2: Public Health Surveillance and Policy Issues for Experts’ featured below.

This Workshop will provide experienced public health surveillance professionals with a forum for learning and discussing current topics and policies essential to public health surveillance and an opportunity to collaborate with other experts in the field to develop practical, concrete products and tools. It will include the following: a panel discussion on non-communicable disease surveillance; a series of roundtable discussions, including disaster surveillance/mass gathering response; a follow-up discussion from the 2012 ISDS Conference on (re)defining situational awareness; and break-out sessions to discuss and summarize current policy topics, such as Meaningful Use (U.S.), International Health Regulations (2005), and data sharing. Ultimately, this Workshop is intended to leverage the collective expertise of the group to advance participants' understanding and practice and to allow for a high-quality and seamless translation of the knowledge gained in the Workshop within the participants' organizations.

Learn more about the 2013 ISDS Workshops.

2013 ISDS Conference Highlight: Submitted Abstracts

ISDS would like to thank all those who answered the call to be a part of the exciting 2013 ISDS Conference program by submitting an abstract for presentation at the upcoming Conference.

2013 Abstract Submission Overview

Abstracts were submitted in four different categories: analytical methods (49 submissions), informatics (53 submissions), policy (15 submissions), and practice (98 submissions). The figure below highlights the keywords of abstracts submitted within each of these categories.

As expected most authors opted to submit for oral presentation (141 abstracts), with 58 submitting for poster, 4 for panel, and 8 for roundtable presentation. New this year, the 2013 ISDS Scientific Program Committee also accepted an additional submission type: lightning talks! These presentation options provide even more opportunity for the community to develop an engaging and relevant program.

Authors from 36 different countries submitted, which is an ISDS record (see map below).

 

Abstract Review

We are now into the abstract review period. During this time, each abstract will be rated by at least three volunteer reviewers – an exceptional group of experts and seasoned ISDS Conference presenters. Acceptance decisions will be based on judgments of relevance, originality, methodology, and quality. Notifications will be sent to contact authors by October 4, 2013.

To find out more about the 2013 ISDS Conference, please visit: http://www.syndromic.org/annual-conference/2013-isds-conference.

Tera Reynolds, MPH, Program Manager, ISDS

2013 ISDS Conference Keynote Speakers

ISDS and its 2013 Scientific Program Committee are pleased to announce two world-renown speakers for the 2013 ISDS Conference keynote addresses!

Opening Keynote

David Abramson, PhD, MPH, Deputy Director, National Center for Disaster Preparedness; Assistant Professor of Sociomedical Sciences at CUMC

As Deputy Director and Director of Research at Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, Dr. Abramson's areas of study include disaster recovery and resiliency, the social ecology of vulnerability, risk communication targeted at high-risk or elusive communities, and survey research on preparedness attitudes and behaviors. He is the principal investigator of the longitudinal Gulf Coast Child and Family Health Study, an examination of need and recovery among 1,000+ randomly sampled displaced and impacted families in Louisiana and Mississippi (2006-2010), and is Co-Investigator of an NIH study of the impact of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on children's health. Additionally, Dr. Abramson is leading a foundation-funded effort to identify pediatric need along the Gulf Coast. Other current or recent disaster-related research activities include studies of how US cities recover from disasters, evolving trends in disaster philanthropy, the public health response to Hurricane Irene, and a FEMA-funded "community tabletop" that focused on how well school systems can prepare for disasters. From 2007 – 2010, Dr. Abramson served as an Associate Editor of the AMA peer-reviewed journal, Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

Prior to entering the field of public health in 1990, Dr. Abramson worked for a decade as a national magazine journalist, having written for Rolling Stone, Esquire, Outside, and the San Francisco Examiner, among other publications. A former paramedic, Abramson holds a doctorate in sociomedical sciences with a specialization in political science, and a master of public health degree, both from Columbia University.

Closing Keynote

Gary Slutkin, MD, Founder/Executive Director, Cure Violence; Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health

Dr. Gary Slutkin is a physician, epidemiologist, infectious disease control specialist and Founder/ Executive Director of Cure Violence. Recognized as an innovator in violence prevention, Dr. Slutkin sees the issue of violence as fundamentally misdiagnosed and has presented his solution-oriented understanding to the World Bank, the State Department, the World Health Organization, the Institute of Medicine, MIT SaxeLab, Harvard Law School and the National Intelligence Council.

Learn more about the 2013 ISDS Conference here.

2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshop: Track 1: Public Health Surveillance for Beginners

Date/Time: December 11, 2013 - 8:00am - 4:15pm

Location: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, LA

Target Audience
The target audience of this Workshop is healthcare and public health professionals new to public health surveillance practice, as well as graduate students and researchers interested in obtaining a better understanding of public health surveillance.

Description
This Workshop will provide exposure to key topics central to public health surveillance and serve to orient those who are new to the field. The objective of this Track is to "bridge the knowledge gap" in order to enable participants to better understand and apply public health data for informed and meaningful decision-making and to communicate outcomes or results. It includes the following: an overview of public health surveillance; demonstrations of syndromic surveillance systems and their integration with novel data sources (Emergency Medical Services (EMS) runs, school absenteeism, poison control, etc.); anomaly detection methods and utility (an inside look at algorithms and their parameter settings); investigation techniques (a "how to" approach, showing the integration of multiple data systems/sources); and communication to stakeholders (creation of surveillance reports and communicating findings). This Track is being developed based on feedback from participants who attended the 2012 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops, and, as such, is sure to be a high quality training opportunity relevant to the practical needs of those who are new to public health surveillance.


Learn more about the 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops here.

2013 ISDS Swap Meet: Opportunity to Present a System Demonstration

Date/Time: December 11, 2013 - 4:30 - 6:30pm (tentative)
Location: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, Louisiana

2012 ISDS Swap Meet, Sheraton San Diego Hotel
and Marina (December 3, 2012).

The ISDS Swap Meet is an exciting opportunity for 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference and Conference attendees to walk around to tables and informally discuss particular topics or systems with system developers, system users, and experts. Previous Swap Meet presentations have included: HealthMap, FirstWatch, ESSENCE, Suite for Automated Global Electronic bioSurveillance (SAGES), NACCHO Informatics, BioSense 2.0, and Data Quality, among others.

If you are interested in presenting a system demonstration, please complete and submit the Swap Meet application by Monday, September 9, 2013 in order to be considered. All applications will be reviewed, and acceptance will be based on space and relevance of topic. Applicants will be notified of the final status of their application by October 4, 2013 (both letters of acceptance and rejection will be sent). Learn more.

If you are interested in attending, please register for a 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshop and/or the Conference - the Swap Meet is included in the registration fee.

Winners of ISDS's 2013 Awards for Outstanding Research Articles in Biosurveillance

The ISDS Research Committee developed the Awards for Outstanding Research Articles in Biosurveillance (Award) in order to recognize disease surveillance scientists and professionals for contributions to their fields of research.

The initial Award candidate pool consisted of articles summarized by members of the ISDS Literature Review Subcommittee between July 2012 and June 2013. A nomination period was open from May 29, 2013 through June 25, 2013, during which any interested stakeholder was invited to nominate one or more of the articles in the initial pool or write-in any relevant article published in July 2012 or later. The Award Committee then reviewed all nominated articles and narrowed the list down to 3-4 finalist articles in each award category. The ISDS membership voted to determine the final Award winners. 

The ISDS Research Committee is proud to announce the winners of the 2013 Awards for Outstanding Research Articles in Biosurveillance:

Impact on Field Category 

First Prize: Schirmer PL, Lucero-Obusan CA, Benoit SR, et al. Dengue Surveillance in Veterans Affairs Healthcare Facilities, 2007–2010. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013;7(3):e2040. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002040.

Second Prize: Paterson BJ, Durrheim DN. The remarkable adaptability of syndromic surveillance to meet public health needs. Journal of Epidemiology and Global Health. 2013;3(1):41–47. doi:10.1016/j.jegh.2012.12.005.

Scientific Achievement Category   

First Prize: Shaman J, Karspeck A. Forecasting seasonal outbreaks of influenza. PNAS. 2012;109(50):20425–20430. doi:10.1073/pnas.1208772109.   

Second Prize: Conway M, Dowling JN, Chapman WW. Using chief complaints for syndromic surveillance: A review of chief complaint based classifiers in North America. Journal of Biomedical Informatics. 2013. doi:10.1016/j.jbi.2013.04.003.

We congratulate all of the authors of the winning articles for this achievement.

For more information about the award, please visit the Award webpage.

Webinar: Discover the 2013 ISDS Conference

Whether you are planning on attending the ISDS Conference for the first time this December or you have been attending since 2002, the ISDS Scientific Program Committee invites you to discover the 2013 ISDS Conference! This webinar will highlight the abstract submission process, new abstract submission types, and the Pre-Conference Workshops. The webinar will include brief overviews by Scientific Program Committee Chair, Wayne Loschen, and Pre-Conference Workshop Planning Chair, Bill Storm, and will be followed by an informal question and answer session. 

Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

To attend, register here.

The ISDS annual conference is the premier event dedicated to the advancement of the science and practice of biosurveillance. The theme for this year's conference — Translating Research and Surveillance into Action — highlights one of the salient topics voiced by the biosurveillance community, and will focus on strategies for incorporating the latest in biosurveillance approaches, methodologies, and results into data-driven public health practices, programs, and policies. The conference will be held at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel in New Orleans, LA, December 12-13, 2013, with Pre-Conference Workshops on December 11th.

2013 Award for Outstanding Student Abstract

The ‘Award for Outstanding Student Abstract’ opportunity was developed, and is being coordinated by the ISDS Research Committee. All students enrolled in an academic program (undergraduate, graduate, or equivalent) in a disease surveillance-related field are eligible, and encouraged to apply.

Two students will be selected and awarded:

• An oral presentation slot to disseminate their innovative work;
• Certificate of achievement;
• Recognition on 2013 ISDS Conference materials, as well as at the Conference; and
• Stipend (Complimentary: Conference registration and 2 nights at the Sheraton New Orleans, as well as up to $150 reimbursement for other travel expenses).
  
  

To be considered, please submit the following by Monday, September 9, 2013 (11:59pm ET):

1. An abstract for the 2013 ISDS Conference: More information.
2. Online application.
   
   

For more information on the student award, please click here.

More information on the 2013 ISDS Conference.

Important Upcoming Conference Dates and Deadlines

Webinar: Discover the 2013 ISDS Conference - August 7, 2013 - 1:00pm - 2:00pm ET

Abstract submission deadline - September 9, 2013 (11:59pm ET)

Student abstract award application deadline - September 9, 2013 (11:59pm ET)

Early registration deadline - October 7, 2013 (11:59pm ET)

Participate in the 2013 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops

Date: December 11, 2013
Location: Sheraton New Orleans Hotel, New Orleans, LA
Registration Information

The ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops are community-generated, professional development trainings designed to address the professional needs of the disease surveillance workforce. The four workshops (overview of each below) will take place on December 11th - the day prior to the two-day 2013 ISDS Conference. 

Track 1: Public Health Surveillance for Beginners

Description: This Workshop will provide exposure to key topics central to public health surveillance and serve to orient those who are new to the field. The objective of this Track is to "bridge the knowledge gap" in order to enable participants to better understand and apply public health data for informed and meaningful decision-making and to communicate outcomes or results. It includes the following: an overview of public health surveillance; demonstrations of syndromic surveillance systems and their integration with novel data sources (Emergency Medical Services (EMS) runs, school absenteeism, poison control, etc.); anomaly detection methods and utility (an inside look at algorithms and their parameter settings); investigation techniques (a "how to" approach, showing the integration of multiple data systems/sources); and communication to stakeholders (creation of surveillance reports and communicating findings). This Track is being developed based on feedback from participants who attended the 2012 ISDS Pre-Conference Workshops, and, as such, is sure to be a high quality training opportunity relevant to the practical needs of those who are new to public health surveillance.

Track 2: Public Health Surveillance and Policy Issues for Experts

Description: This Workshop will provide experienced public health surveillance professionals with a forum for learning and discussing current topics and policies essential to public health surveillance and an opportunity to collaborate with other experts in the field to develop practical, concrete products and tools. It will include the following: a panel discussion on non-communicable disease surveillance; a series of roundtable discussions, including disaster surveillance/mass gathering response; a follow-up discussion from the 2012 ISDS Conference on (re)defining situational awareness; and break-out sessions to discuss and summarize current policy topics, such as Meaningful Use (U.S.), International Health Regulations (2005), and data sharing. Ultimately, this Workshop is intended to leverage the collective expertise of the group to advance participants' understanding and practice and to allow for a high-quality and seamless translation of the knowledge gained in the Workshop within the participants' organizations. 

Track 3: Using R for Disease Surveillance

Description: The public health workforce (public health practitioners, healthcare providers, and academicians in research settings) require data, as well as analysis and visualization of that data, to enable and provide informed decision-making, whether clinically-based or policy-based. Continued budgetary restrictions and funding cuts have somewhat hindered the ability to purchase commercial products and applications; therefore, public health has a strong need for exposure to and training with open-source products and tools for data collection, analysis, and visualization. R is a language and environment for statistical computing and graphics. It provides a variety of statistical and graphical techniques, and is extensible (http://www.r-project.org/). As an open-source product, R is freely available, and, thus, optimal for use in a variety of settings. This Workshop is a hands-on training in how to use R for epidemiology, disease surveillance and high-quality data visualizations. *Note: There will be pre-assignments sent to registrants prior to the Workshop in order to maximize time and to facilitate greater efficiency on the overall flow of the workshop. Additional online resources/tutorials will be provided and are highly recommended for registrants unfamiliar with the R language and environment.

Track 4: Introduction to Mapping for Disease Surveillance

Description: This Workshop is a hands-on training on using Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/mapping for disease surveillance. It will introduce participants to the basic concepts of GIS, give simple and functional tips for good cartography, and show examples of digital cartography and exploratory spatial data analysis. *Note: There may be pre-assignments sent to registrants prior to the Workshop in order to maximize time and to facilitate greater efficiency on the overall flow of the workshop. Additional online resources/tutorials will be provided and are highly recommended for registrants unfamiliar with GIS/mapping.

For more information, please visit the webpage.