HSIP Host-Site Application Now Open

Host-site applications are now being accepted from state and local public health agencies to host a fellow in the Health Systems Integration Program (HSIP). HSIP host-site applications will be accepted through December 11, 2015.

HSIP is an opportunity for health systems capacity building, specifically between public health and clinical care partners. HSIP is one of three fellowship programs of Project SHINE (Strengthening Health Systems through Interprofessional Education). Project SHINE is supported by CDC, CSTE, and NACCHO. The emphasis on interprofessional education aims to build health department and fellow capacity to improve population health through health systems integration. 
 
The HSIP fellowship places public health practitioners with a background in epidemiology and informatics at health departments for a one-year program. Fellows are involved in projects that address: community epidemiologic surveillance to support community health needs assessments, the public health interface and use of electronic health records, and the sharing of lessons learned from successful public health and primary care professional partnerships. Fellows have a master’s degree or higher with a commitment to working in applied public health.
 
Host-Site Application Information
Host-site applications should describe the fellowship assignment, supervision, support structure and workplace environment proposed for the fellow. All applications must include a letter of support from the applicant’s state health officer, State Epidemiologist, or local health officer. Applications will be reviewed by a panel and are evaluated on:

• The scope, quality, and diversity of experience offered to the fellow
• Experience of supervisors in management, informatics, and mentoring
• Potential long-term career placement for the fellow
• Potential professional development opportunities and financial support provided for the fellow
• Availability of office space, computer, and office/technical support
• Letters of support for the mentor seeking a fellow

Fellows are supported through a cooperative agreement with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and are matched to health departments. Host-site applications are limited to one per state health agency or local health agency. Assignments will begin in summer 2016.
 
Mentorship
Applications must include a description of two designated mentors: a primary mentor and a secondary mentor. Mentors must have either a doctoral or master’s degree related to public health with at least eight years of experience in public health management and/or informatics. Both mentors must devote at least four hours per week with the fellow during the first month and at least two hours per week for the duration of the training period. Approved health agencies will have a demonstrated capacity to provide technical training, applied research opportunities, and opportunities for experience in the application of public health informatics in a practical setting.

How to Apply
Please visit http://shinefellows.org for complete information and the link to the electronic application. Host-site applications will be accepted through December 11, 2015. Please note that applying to the Health Systems Integration Program fellowship does not guarantee acceptance or placement of a fellow at your host health agency.

If you have any questions about the Health Systems Integration Program or the host-site application, please contact Jessica Pittman at jpittman@cste.org or Amanda Masters at amasters@cste.org or 770-458-3811.
 
Best regards,

Jeffrey P. Engel, M.D.
Executive Director, CSTE

17th International Congress on Infectious Diseases to be held in Hyderabad, India on March 2-5, 2016

17th International Congress on Infectious Diseases

Hyderabad, India, March 2-5, 2016

We are excited to share the program for the 17th International Congress on Infectious Diseases to be held in Hyderabad, India on March 2-5, 2016 http://www.isid.org/icid/   The program and plenary speakers encompass all fields in infectious diseases with particular attention being paid to the major infectious causes of morbidity and mortality in India and elsewhere. Diseases presented will include HIV, malaria, TB, vaccine preventable diseases, neglected diseases and many others. Current issues and the latest results related to these diseases will be presented in Hyderabad. I encourage you to visit the website for the meeting to find program updates, register for the meeting and also submit abstracts of your own work for presentation during the Congress.   Abstract submission instructions: http://www.isid.org/icid/abstract_guidelines.shtml and complete hotel and registration information http://www.isid.org/icid/registration_guide.shtml are also posted.   Please note the following important deadlines:   Abstract submission deadline:             Abstract submission deadline: November 1, 2015             Early registration fee deadline: January 10, 2016   We are looking forward to welcoming you to Hyderabad, the center of India.   Sincerely, Britta Lassmann ISID Program Director

Join the 17th ICID Mailing List ISID would like to acknowledge the 17th ICID Premier Sponsors: Daiichi-Sankyo India Pharma Pvt. Ltd. Pfizer 17th ICID Official Airline Travel on Etihad to Hyderabad, India The ISID is pleased to announce that Etihad Airways has been selected as the official airline for the 17th ICID in Hyderabad, India. Etihad has excellent connections to Hyderabad from around the globe via Abu Dhabi with more than 100 destinations worldwide. 17th ICID Discount Codes are available, click here for more information.

Job Opportunity: CDC recruiting for architects for next generation surveillance system

Job Opportunity: CDC recruiting for architects for next generation surveillance system

CDC is looking for IT innovators to help build the next-generation disease surveillance system. Put your experience and skills to work for America’s public health. HHS Entrepreneur-in-Residence is recruiting a data integration architect and software platforms architect for CDC at http://go.usa.gov/3MV94.

Some additional Information on HHS Entrepreneur-in-Residence program:

http://www.hhs.gov/idealab/2015/05/28/looking-great-entrepreneurs-residence-apply-now/.

PhD Graduate Study in Epidemiology - Focusing on Animal Health Surveillance

PhD Graduate Study in Epidemiology 

Focusing on Animal Health Surveillance

The Veterinary Public Health Institute at the University of Bern in Switzerland has a 3 year graduate study opportunity in Epidemiology. The Swiss Federal Veterinary Office is currently exploring many livestock data sources for their utility for syndromic surveillance. This funded research project will focus on approaches for identifying outbreaks of emerging or important endemic diseases using event detection signals from many diverse syndromic surveillance data streams. The student will work in collaboration with the main applicant, a Post-Doctoral student and surveillance practitioners in the Early Detection Unit of the Swiss Federal Veterinary Office. The goal of the research is to develop methods that will have direct application to early detection of important livestock diseases in Switzerland.

Applicants must possess an undergraduate or MSc degree in any of Biology, Ecology, Computer Science, Biostatistics, Epidemiology, Public Health or related discipline, or have completed their studies in Veterinary Medicine. Students must be eligible for admission to the Graduate School at the University of Bern. An interest in epidemiology, surveillance and quantitative research are essential qualities.

The city of Bern is located in central Switzerland with easy access to skiing, snowshoeing, mountain hiking, mountain biking and other recreational opportunities in the Swiss Alps. Switzerland is centrally located in Europe with easy access by train, plane and car to many European countries including those on the Mediterranean. The Veterinary Public Health Institute focuses on applied research in the areas of animal health surveillance, risk assessment, antimicrobial resistance and infectious disease modelling.

The position is available starting on January 1^st 2016. Interested applicants must submit: 1) a letter of intent outlining their strengths, interests and future career goals, 2) their curriculum vitae and 3) the names and addresses of three references. For more information, or to apply please send an email to: 

Dr. John Berezowski

Surveillance Research Group Leader

Veterinary Public Health Institute 

Liebefeld, Switzerland

john.berezowski@vetsuisse.unibe.ch

ISDS' ICD-10 Master Mapping Reference Table Now Available!

ICD-10 Master Mapping Reference Table

ISDS is pleased to release the ICD-10 Master Mapping Reference Table (MMRT) as a tool and resource to assist public health professionals in code-mapping the conversion between ICD-9-CM to ICD-10-CM diagnostic codes. Learn more and download here!

Background The upcoming ICD-9/ICD-10 transition will have a significant impact on public health surveillance systems and activities that involve coded clinical data. It is imperative that public health agencies begin to prepare their systems, modify current business processes, and train their workforce to ensure a seamless transition to ICD-10 coded data. To address this urgent need, CDC worked with clinicians and public health professionals to develop ICD-9 to ICD-10 translations based on conceptual mapping for 140 syndromes arranged into 16 broader syndrome groupings. ISDS coordinated the community input on these codesets and concepts, to ensure that they reflect how public health agencies use diagnostic codes for syndromic surveillance activities. Three reviews for each syndrome chapter were compiled, and a panel of syndromic surveillance experts subsequently assessed that the reviews for inclusion. The resulting reference tables, which include 90 syndromes grouped into 13 chapters, serve as a resource for public health agencies looking to ensure a smooth transition between ICD-9 and ICD-10 code-mapping.

Feedback If you have any questions or comments for fellow users of the ICD-10 MMRT, please visit the ISDS Community Forum ICD-10 MMRT page. If you have any questions for the creators of the ICD-10 MMRT, please e-mail icd10@syndromic.org. If providing feedback on code mappings, please be specific with chapter, syndrome and line number. Thank you!

Acknowledgement The ICD-10 Master Mapping Reference Table is made possible by funding to ISDS through the Council for State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) from the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (CSELS) within the Office of Public Health Scientific Services (OPHSS) at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Optimizing Infectious Disease Surveillance

On Wednesday, August 19, 2015 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm Eastern Time, CSTE will be hosting a webinar entitled “Optimizing Infectious Disease Surveillance.”

The explosion of public health data provides an opportunity for resource-constrained public health agencies to engage in cost-efficient and truly innovative disease surveillance.  However, to design robust surveillance with limited resources we propose a four-step process that systematically evaluates and integrates candidate data streams:  (1) define surveillance objectives, (2) specify candidate data sources, (3) simulate historical data where data are missing, and (4) select the most informative combination of data sources.  This methodology determines system right-size by quantifying the performance of data sources in terms of the specified surveillance objectives and prioritizes them for incorporation into surveillance systems.  In this webinar, I will demonstrate the flexibility and utility of this approach on a provider-based influenza surveillance network in Texas with both traditional and digital data streams across two surveillance objectives: situational awareness and early detection.

After the webinar, participants will be able to:

1.       Demonstrate how an integrative surveillance system can be used to improve situational awareness and early detection.

2.       Assess the performance of various data sources, e.g. primary healthcare providers, laboratory data, emergency department chief complaints, and Google Flu Trends, for surveillance.  

3.       Evaluate the utility of primary healthcare providers and emergency department chief complaints for predicting influenza-associated hospitalizations in at risk populations.  

The presenter is Samuel V. Scarpino, a postdoctoral fellow at the Santa Fe Institute, where he holds the prestigious Omidyar Fellowship. He completed his Ph.D. in Integrative Biology from the University of Texas at Austin, where his dissertation research focused on the design of disease surveillance networks and the integration of diverse data streams to better inform public health decision-making. Dr. Scarpino is an incoming Assistant Professor in Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Vermont.  His research focuses on the evolutionary and population dynamics of infectious diseases. He applies this work to the design of both public health surveillance systems and intervention strategies.

Register for this webinar at: https://csteevents.webex.com/csteevents/onstage/g.php?d=665423224&t=a

The webinar recording and slides will be available on the CSTE website shortly after the session has concluded.

MMWR Vol. 64 / Early Release 07/07/2015   MMWR Early Release  Vol. 64, Early Release  July 7, 2015   PDF   In this report Vital Signs: Demographic and Substance Use Trends Among Heroin Users — United States, 2002–2013  Christopher M. Jones, PharmD, Joseph Logan, PhD, R. Matthew Gladden, PhD, et al. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 2015;64(Early Release):1-7  Heroin use and overdose deaths have increased significantly in the United States. Assessing trends in heroin use among demographic and particular substance-using groups can inform prevention efforts. FDA and CDC analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and National Vital Statistics System reported during 2002–2013. This report summarizes their findings. See also: ISDS webinar: Approaches to Syndromic Case Definitions for Drug Overdose Surveillance