Call for Nominations: Rick Heffernan Award for Public Health Practice

Nomination Deadline: September 16, 2013

The Award
The Award Committee is soliciting nominations for the Rick Heffernan Award for "sustained and outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of biosurveillance." This annual 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.

Rick was committed to his career as a dedicated public servant in the field of epidemiology. He was a strong, gentle, and exemplary leader who will be remembered as a trusted friend, a deeply valued colleague, and one who was always calm in a crisis. He graduated in 1992 from Columbia University, School of Public Health/School of International Affairs in New York, NY with a Master of Public Health and a Master of International Affairs. From 1992 to 1996 he worked for the New York City Department of Health, first as a Public Health Epidemiologist conducting HIV research and then as Assistant Director of the Bureau of Communicable Diseases. He set up the first Health Alert system to enable the NYC Department of Health to provide timely information to city healthcare providers on breaking public health emergencies. From 1996 to 2001 he was a Ph.D. candidate at Yale University, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, completing all coursework and conducting research on drug resistant infections. During this time he spent a year studying the Ebola virus antibody in northeastern Gabon. In the wake of 9/11, Rick rejoined the NYC Department of Health and was critical to the Department's response to the World Trade Center and anthrax letter terrorist attacks. One of his major accomplishments was establishing one of the first electronic emergency department syndromic surveillance systems in the country. He also led the effort to develop the Communicable Disease Surveillance System, improving the city's capacity to track over 70 infectious diseases. After moving to Madison, WI in 2007 with his family, he continued his work helping to detect, prevent and manage threats to public health, taking the position of Chief Research Scientist Supervisor for the Wisconsin Division of Public Health, Communicable Disease Epidemiology Section. He was an author of numerous scientific journal articles, a board member of the International Society of Disease Surveillance, taught workshops on syndromic surveillance for the annual ISDS conference, and gave numerous presentations in his field of expertise. Since 2007 he served as Associate Faculty at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine & Public Health, and previously served as Adjunct Lecturer for graduate-level courses at Yale University, Division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases and at City University of New York, Hunter School of Health Sciences. Rick was also a talented musician and athlete. He was profoundly loved by many, who will miss his warmth and gentleness, his delightful sense of humor, and his big smile.

The award for 2013 will be presented at the ISDS Conference in New Orleans, December 11-13th, 2013.

Nominations
Any current or former ISDS member may be nominated by a colleague (no self-nominations please). Nominations should be prepared containing the following:

1. A cover letter from the primary nominator up to one page in length, that describes the major contributions of the nominee to the practice of biosurveillance and her/his impact on the field.
2. A brief curriculum vitae or biographical sketch of the nominee (up to three pages).
3. Optional: Up to two letters, of a maximum of two pages in length each, supporting the nomination, from others familiar with the contributions of the nominee. The support letters should describe in specific terms how the nominee has made sustained and outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of biosurveillance.

Nominations should be submitted through this online form. The deadline for submitting nominations for the 2013 Rick Heffernan Award is September 16, 2013.

If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail syndromic@syndromic.org.

Learn more about the 2013 ISDS Conference.

Nominations by Nov 30: New CDC Advisory Committee

The CDC is looking for nominees for a new committee, the National Public Health Surveillance Biosurveillance Advisory Committee (NPHSB AC). ISDS would like to share the following message with more information about this committee and how to submit nominations. We encourage the ISDS community to self-nominate or nominate others for this unique opportunity to play a role in influencing the pressing public health surveillance and biosurveillance issues of today. 

-----Start Message-----

Dear  Partners:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is forming a new committee, the National Public Health Surveillance and Biosurveillance Advisory Committee (NPHSB AC) with the recent release of a Federal Register Notice (FRN) http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-10-03/html/2012-24423.htm.   As the Program Office charged with supporting the formation and work of the NPHSB AC, we are seeking your recommendations for members to serve on the NPHSB AC. 

Your perspective on public health surveillance and biosurveillance is important to CDC and would greatly enhance the work of the NPHSB AC.  The overall scope of the NPHSB AC is reflected in the FRN notice.  The primary focus of the NPHSB AC will address:

• How to take advantage of the expanding automation of health information
• How to better coordinate CDC’s multiple surveillance activities and their interface with state and local partners for both routine and urgent situations

It is desired that members of the NPHSB AC be recognized experts in one or more of the six Priority Areas outlined in the National Biosurveillance Strategy for Human Health http://intranet.cdc.gov/osels/phspo/bc/bc_pdf/NBSHH.pdf

which are:

• Electronic Health Information Exchange
• Electronic laboratory Information Exchange
• Unstructured Data
• Integrated Biosurveillance Information 
• Global Diseases Detection and Collaboration
• Biosurveillance Workforce of the Future

The FRN calling for member nominations was released on November 6th.  You can view and print this FRN at the following link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-11-06/pdf/2012-27053.pdf.  Please follow the directions in the FRN and also take the additional step of validating the interest of your nominee(s) in serving prior to submitting their CV for consideration. Nominee submissions are due by November 30, 2012.  

Thanks in advance.

Sincerely,

Pamela Diaz, MD

Designated Federal Official, NPHSB AC

Deputy Director (Acting), Public Health Surveillance and Informatics Program Office

National Defense Industrial Association's Biosurveillance Conference

Creating a National Biosurveillance Strategy: Addressing the Shortfalls and Filling the Gaps

The National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) is hosting a conference at Washington Court Hotel on Capitol Hill from August 27 - 28th.

With new developments and advancements in biotechnology, the range of biological threats is becoming infinite. Failed attempts to develop an effective national biosurveillance strategy have left the U.S., and its allies, unprepared in a particularly dangerous time. The NDIA Biosurveillance Conference will provide a forum for addressing the many known shortfalls and inadequacies, in the biosurveillance community, preventing us from developing, implementing, and maintaining a national biosurveillance strategy.

Attendees will be provided the opportunity to share ideas and explore the vital next steps to achieve the overall goal of standardizing and integrating the biosurveillance community, thus, helping us prepare for and protect against harmful biological agents in the environment.

In a time where strengthening our defenses in the biological arena is of national priority, it’s more important than ever to bring government, industry, academia, and first responders together, on one stage, in order to “address the shortfalls and fill in the gaps” in our national biosurveillance strategy.


Regular registration ends August 17th. For more information, please visit the NDIA conference website.