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APHA Home » Member Groups & Affiliates » Section & SPIG Newsletters » Section Newsletters » Epidemiology » Fall 2009 » Message from the Chair

Title: Message from the Chair

Author:

Section/SPIG: Epidemiology

Issue Date:

Just about this time 80 years ago, in 1929, with the Governing Council’s approval, the Epidemiology Section was officially organized as a section within the APHA. Realizing the growing importance of epidemiology in their public health work, our Section founders had begun organizing a few sessions at earlier APHA annual meetings. They hoped to showcase and discuss the practice-based epidemiologic work of state and local health departments, few of which then had epidemiology staff. From these early gatherings and with APHA’s official sanction, our Section began as perhaps the first epidemiology society in the United States. Over the nearly 80 annual meetings, with thousands of presentations and hundreds of sessions addressing many public health issues, our Section has slowly grown to become one of the largest sections within APHA and the largest epidemiology society in North America, with some 3,000 members or more. While so much has changed since 1929, many public health and social issues have not: the need to understand and respond to pandemic influenza and disparities in health and access to health care, for example. Of course, new challenges abound and, with them, the need for newer tools and data to address them. This year, while we contemplate the work that calls us and those who will follow us to practice epidemiology, let us also celebrate the contributions of the Epidemiology Section and many of our members and colleagues to the achievements of the last 80 years.

This autumn also marks my transition from chair to immediate past chair. As one of my last official acts, I invite each of you to share your scientific findings and programmatic ideas with colleagues at APHA’s Annual Meeting in Philadelphia. Come get re-energized by meeting people who share your interests and passions! The Epidemiology Section has a terrific Annual Meeting program. Come celebrate our 80^th Anniversary this year in Philly!

Thank you to all who submitted abstracts, organized sessions, and are presenting posters/talks and moderating sessions at our upcoming program. Many thanks also to the Section leaders and many others who have worked hard to make this program successful.

To plan your days there, please take a look at the wide-ranging topics of our Section’s Program Sessions, listed at the APHA conference Web site link for the most updated program information: http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/webprogram/EPI.html. We are excited about the special invited sessions, including those that address this year’s meeting theme, Water and Public Health. Section late-breaker sessions will include updates on current topics such as the epidemiology of the novel influenza, H1N1. The APHA program will address current public health issues including U.S. health reform legislation. Special thanks again to Dr. Karyn Heavner, Dr. Aaron Mendelsohn, and the members of our Section program committee for their hard work!

In this newsletter issue, we Epidemiology Section leaders highlight some other Annual Meeting events we hope you and your colleagues will plan on attending while in Philadelphia. Here are five quick make-the-most-of-your-meeting tips:

· Tip #1: Get acquainted with what the Epidemiology Section and its leadership are up to, and think about getting involved. Come meet some of our continuing and new Section leaders and hear from candidates for APHA’s Executive Board and others (Saturday and Sunday nights only). Help us plan for next year (esp. on Tuesday morning). Please join us at our working Section business meetings (locations to be announced). While we expect these will be held at the Philadelphia Marriot, please check your APHA meeting program book for specific locations:

1) Business Meeting I, Session 125.0 on Saturday Nov. 7, 7-10 p.m., in a location to be announced.

2) Business Meeting II, Session 291.0 on Sunday Nov. 8, 6-10 p.m., in a location to be announced.

3) Business Meeting III, Session 401.0 on Tuesday Nov. 10, 7-8 a.m. in a location to be announced.

· Tip #2: Come celebrate with us as we honor and hear from some of epidemiology’s best, at our two Epidemiology Section awards sessions.

1. Awards Ceremony, Monday at 2:30 p.m., Session 3318.0, location to be announced. Come honor our many distinguished career award winners and hear an engaging Wade Hampton Frost Lecture by Dr. Eugene Gangarosa, professor emeritus at Emory University’s Center for Global Safe Water and former CDC senior medical epidemiologist). Dr. Gangarosa will discuss his remarkable career in public health and address past and current challenges with global waterborne illnesses. http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/webprogram/Session27069.html

NOTE: this is earlier in the day than past years!

2. Student Awards and Careers Panel Session, Tuesday at 4:30 p.m., Session 4364.0, location to be announced. Come honor our Section Student Abstract and the College Board Young Epidemiology Scholarship (YES) Award winners and hear about and discuss careers in epidemiology with senior epidemiologists working in diverse public health settings. To students and others, make sure to also obtain your tickets for the Section social beforehand and, then, please plan on attending the social which follows afterwards at 6:30 p.m. (see below). http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/webprogram/Session27124.html

NOTE: We encourage all students and professionals to attend BOTH sessions and then to continue talking at the social on Tuesday night! To read highlights and see photos of last year’s awards sessions and winners, please go to: http://www.apha.org/membergroups/newsletters/sectionnewsletters/epidem/winter09/

Special thanks to Drs. Claudia Kozinez, Christopher Fennie, Karyn Heavner, and the other members of the Awards Committees for selecting this year’s outstanding winners!

· Tip #3: This year we will continue our discussion with leaders in Epidemiology about where our field might be headed in the next 5-10 years. Top epidemiologists will address new findings about the impact of HIPAA privacy rules on public health research, new priorities for comparative effectiveness research, and a new national initiative for product safety monitoring. Please plan on attending our featured “Future of Epidemiology” Session, organized this second year by the Joint Policy Committee (JPC) of the Congress of Epidemiology Societies, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 at 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m., Session 4097.1, location to be announced. http://apha.confex.com/apha/137am/webprogram/Session28032.html

· Tip #4: Don’t miss your chance to meet new colleagues and mentors, to continue networking, and to celebrate our Section’s 80^th Anniversary at THIS YEAR’s Annual Epidemiology Section Social just a few blocks from the Convention Center, from 6:30-8:30 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 10. Please visit the Section booth to learn the exact location. We plan to host an epidemiology book raffle at the social as well. Space will be limited, and you must have tickets this year. Complimentary tickets will be available at the Section Booth in the Exhibit Hall for as long as they last. Several Section leaders will have a few tickets on them at the conference’s start, so you might try visiting one of the business meetings, especially Saturday or Sunday night, if you or your colleagues can’t make it to the booth. Tickets usually go fast, so make one of your first stops at our Section booth when the Exhibit Hall opens Sunday. This event will not posted on APHA’s Web site or highlighted in the APHA program book.

· Tip #5: Please visit the Epidemiology Section Booth! Come talk to Section leaders and find out more about the Section, get your Section badge labels and pins, pick up a listing of the Section Program for the conference, our new Section brochure, and of course, your ticket for the Social and a quick look at the books to be raffled. Come see the unveiling of our new Section banner, and, if you’re playing APHA’s scavenger hunt, find the answer to our Section’s question. (Check the Exhibit Hall directory for our Booth Number.)

And don’t forget about the coming call for abstracts for the 2010 meeting in Denver. Start looking for the call in January 2010 on the APHA Web site.

As I complete my term as Section Chair, I want to express my warmest thanks to all of our members for this extraordinary opportunity to lead our Section and for the incredible work and dedication of all of our Section leaders, including this year’s Section student leaders. It has been an honor and a pleasure to serve with you all. Let me also welcome Dr. Claudia Kozinetz as she soon becomes our new Section chair.

Again, please come celebrate Epidemiology Section’s 80^th Anniversary this year!

See you all in Philadelphia in November! Don’t forget to attend your local public health organization meetings as well!

Yours truly,

Dr. Jim Gaudino

Chair, Epidemiology Section

james.a.gaudino@state.or.us

Contact Information for several other Section leaders:

(Please check http://www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/aphasections/epidemiology/roster/ for a complete list of contacts for Section leaders):

Dr. Claudia A Kozinetz

Chair-Elect, Epidemiology Section and Chair, Section Awards Committee

kozinetz@bcm.edu

Dr. Stanley H. Weiss