Post-disaster Surveillance among State Health Departments in the United States

Authors

  • Erin Simms Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, GA, United States
  • Amy Wolkin Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States
  • Ekta Choudhary Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States
  • Robert Mathes New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, United States
  • Michael Heumann Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, GA, United States
  • Sharon Watkins Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, United States

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v6i1.5147

Abstract

The importance of post-disaster surveillance has increased with the massive impact recent disasters have had on affected populations' health. In 2012, the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) assessed state-level disaster epidemiologic capacity with a focus on surveillance. Concurrently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) created the Disaster Epidemiology Community of Practice (DE CoP), which serves as a forum for public health practitioners to share information, including resources related to post-disaster surveillance. This panel will present the results of the CSTE 2012 assessment and will provide an overview of resources available to epidemiologists for post-disaster surveillance.

Author Biographies

Amy Wolkin, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States

Amy Wolkin is the Lead for the Lead of the Disaster Epidemiology and Response Team with CDC's National Center for Environmental Health. She joined the CDC in 2002 and her research experience includes studies on disaster morbidity surveillance activities, community health assessments following a natural disaster, and environmental contaminants and health effects. Mrs. Wolkin has several publications on disaster epidemiology activities. Current public health interests include natural disasters, environmental epidemiology, and preparedness activities.

Ekta Choudhary, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, United States

Ekta Choudhary is an Epidemiologist at the Environmental Public Health Tracking branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). She joined CDC in 2009 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer. She received her Masters and Doctorate degrees in Public Health Sciences from West Virginia University. At the Tracking branch, Dr. Choudhary's provides expertise in developing content area for the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network. She develops methods and techniques to conduct methodological research and evaluation of data collection, reduction, processing, and analyses for environmental health. Dr. Choudhary also provides expertise in evaluating, developing, and applying spatial analytical techniques to examine geographic trends in Tracking data.

Robert Mathes, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York, NY, United States

Robert Mathes is Director of Syndromic Surveillance in the Bureau of Communicable Disease, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. His previous work includes statistical modeling of morbidity and mortality during environmental events and developing monitoring tools for local pharmacy sales. He is currently leading a project to evaluate and improve the syndromic surveillance system in NYC.

Michael Heumann, Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, GA, United States

Michael Heumann has practiced occupational and environmental epidemiology for over 30 years. Mr. Heumann has developed and managed a range of public health programs and applied studies in occupational health, environmental health and emergency preparedness. His experience ranges from work with farmworkers and growers on pesticide health and safety issues to incorporating occupational and environmental epidemiological approaches to public health emergency preparedness. Prior to retiring from the Oregon Public Health Division (OPHD) at the Oregon Health Authority, he was the lead occupational and environmental epidemiologist. In 2007, Michael worked closely with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the National Center for Environmental Health, as well as with state epidemiologists across the country (through the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists or CSTE) to develop Disaster Epidemiology as a core part of public health response to all phases of the disaster management cycle. He is currently a consultant to CSTE and NIOSH on disaster epidemiology.

Sharon Watkins, Florida Department of Health, Tallahassee, FL, United States

Sharon Watkins is Chief of the Bureau of Epidemiology at the Florida Department of Health. Dr. Watkins has over ten years of experience in environmental health, injury, and MCH epidemiology. Before serving as Chief, Dr. Watkins oversaw the Chemical Disease Surveillance Program (surveillance of pesticide and carbon monoxide poisonings, other notifiable diseases, and epidemiologic response for chemical and radiological events), Occupational Safety and Health Program, Analytical Environmental Epidemiology Program (environmental disease clusters and consultation), and the Birth Defects Program.

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Published

2014-03-09

How to Cite

Simms, E., Wolkin, A., Choudhary, E., Mathes, R., Heumann, M., & Watkins, S. (2014). Post-disaster Surveillance among State Health Departments in the United States. Online Journal of Public Health Informatics, 6(1). https://doi.org/10.5210/ojphi.v6i1.5147

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Section

Panel Presentations