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.
