Get Involved:
Have you ever wondered why APHA is not involved in issues you consider important to your career or your work? 

Have you ever wanted a say in the scientific and policy-advocacy directions of APHA and the APHA Epidemiology Section? 

If you have answered “YES” to either or both of these questions . . . we need YOU to get involved.  We need YOUR help NOW! 

Dear colleagues, the amazing thing is that you really CAN make a difference!  Yes, you can. And right now is your chance! We members appreciate the benefits of membership: a great journal and a terrific Annual Meeting with scientific-, policy- and advocacy-oriented sessions that cover many public health-related topics and that offer some of us the opportunity to present our own scientific work. And there’s more: the many networking opportunities with colleagues from all parts of public health, including the Section social, and the Epidemiology Section awards sessions that give us a chance to hear about major achievements in public health. Just like APHA itself, our section Annual Meeting programming tries to take the “pulse of public health.”  

But how are these great benefits and opportunities made possible? A few years ago I learned what goes into making APHA the largest non-governmental voice in the United States for public health professionals. I also learned how APHA is governed and how APHA sets its policy and advocacy directions and develops positions on public health scientific and policy issues.

More than this, I learned that the benefits and opportunities I appreciated are possible because of both paid staff, led by APHA’s executive director, and a vast network of volunteer leaders. In fact, APHA is governed by an all-volunteer Governing Council, the congress-like governing body of APHA, that sets APHA policy and strategic direction and elects APHA’s senior leaders, including the Executive Board, APHA’s “board of directors” that oversees APHA staff and fiduciary matters.

Among other responsibilities, Section leaders, all volunteers, have primary responsibility for Annual Meeting programming and representing our membership on the Governing Council.

Just as I did, you too can get involved and make a difference by serving as an officer with the Epidemiology Section!

Besides volunteering time, which we always welcome, Section members may choose to be candidates for office as either Section Councilors or Section Governing Councilors.

Section Councilors serve the Section in multiple ways, overseeing or participating in any number of essential activities. Governing Councilors, who serve on the APHA Governing Council, open, please contact me for information and the required nomination forms. All nominations materials are due to me, Jim Gaudino, NO LATER than Monday March 1, 2010. Please contact, me by e-mail at james.a.gaudino@state.or.us and jag8nw@comcast.net or by phone at (971) 673-0288 (work) or (503) 522-4122 (cell).

If February slips by but you are still interested in participating, please contact Claudia Kozinetz, Section Chair, or me about volunteering to serve with us. We especially welcome students who have the time and interest to serve. Check our Web site for descriptions of each of these positions at: 
http://www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/aphasections/epidemiology/roster/memberleadership.htm  and   http://www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/elections/