Archive for the 'Workforce & Professional Development' category

Are Girls Being Nipped in the STEM?

Dec 11 2013 :: Published in General, Workforce & Professional Development

By Rohini G. Sandesara, APHL/CDC Training Fellow, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, NCEZID, DVBD, Dengue Branch, Molecular Diagnostics and Research Laboratory

Are Girls Being Nipped in the STEM? | www.aphlblog.org

On October 1, 2013 the US federal government shut down and with it hundreds of thousands of people were not allowed to work by law, including myself.  As a result, I spent an obscene amount of time on the internet reading about almost everything.  Something that caught my attention were a few websites talking about Ada Lovelace because a day to celebrate her was approaching.  I was happy to see her getting some publicity and wanted to see her being recognized for two things:  1) she was an intelligent woman and 2) she was the first computer programmer EVER.  Unfortunately, her day came and went and I was sorely disappointed in the minimal exposure she got; I had to dig into women-focused websites to find blurbs about her.

During this time I also noticed a lot of articles about federal departments that were forced to close.  I saw a fair amount of light being shed on the sciences and how these agencies were handling the shutdown.  Even the research being done in Antarctica got a decent amount of coverage.  There were stories of what was going to happen to the animals used in the research that had come to a halt, the inability of NIH to accept new patients into clinical trials, the CDC unable to do proper influenza surveillance right at the start of flu season, the FDA not being able to inspect imported food… the list goes on.  So on October 15, 2013, an internationally recognized day to celebrate Ada Lovelace, I was surprised that more people did not take advantage of these circumstances to advocate for the STEM fields at all, let alone women specifically by using Lovelace as an example.  On the one hand there was a lot of talk about what these shuttered federal agencies do, yet on the other hand, a great opportunity to encourage investment, time and support for these fields was passed by.

As a female scientist, I would love to increase the number of women in these crucial fields of study by using opportunities that are already available.  The internet makes the world a very small place and there is no reason not to use it to advocate for women in these areas.  Missed opportunities like Ada Lovelace Day are rampant and inexcusable.  Companies and organizations with wide nets cast all over the world through marketing and consumerism have the best resources to encourage girls from a young age to pursue the STEM fields, but they choose not to.

LEGO regularly has a computer engineer whose bio reads “In his spare time, he programs his own video games, catches up on the latest posts in his favorite web forums, and hangs out with his pet robo-cat.”  They now also have a female scientist who will “…spend all night in her lab analyzing how to connect bricks of different sizes and shapes…”  Neither of these character descriptions help to dispel stereotypes of people on these career paths.  This alone is enough to push young girls away from STEM fields, because they may identify being a scientist with not having a life outside of lab or a computer programmer as someone who is socially isolated.  TV shows and movies also advocate for this thinking by showcasing the idea that scientists’ work is the focus of their lives.  This could not be further from the truth. There are plenty of scientists who exhibit just as much passion for their work as they do for hobbies and interests outside of work.

We need to expose the public to real people in these fields by getting the word out there about who they are, what they do and why they do it.  UNESCO recently formed a scientific advisory board consisting of scientists from all over the world to help influence policy.  A solid 50% of them are women; however, neither the formation of this board nor the gender makeup of it was widely circulated in the media.   This should have been news-worthy because it is important for people to see the positions these women have and show what scientists actually do rather than the fictional representations that are often projected on us.

Without understanding of what STEM fields entail, it is no surprise that there a skill shortage is forecast in many of these sectors.  Without the active dissolution of stereotypes in these fields, we are knowingly pushing away brilliant minds and studies show they tend to be female. (See these studies: 1, 2, and 3.) There is no one type of person that goes on to study physics, become a biomedical engineer, develop software or build robots.  Many different people pursue these fields; that is why we see progress in them.

Ada Lovelace was a pioneer for women and kickstarted the technology saturated world we use every day without a second thought.  Her day of recognition coincided with a time when people were becoming more knowledgeable about STEM fields, yet her accomplishments were not leveraged to their fullest potential.  We should be using the opportunities we have at our fingertips to advance knowledge about STEM fields so that we do not give the wrong impression of what goes on inside these worlds.  These are the fields that directly influence our daily lives without most of us even knowing how.

About Ronini: Through a fellowship run by the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL), I am currently working in the Molecular Diagnostics and Research Laboratory in the Dengue Branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). I am passionate about scientific research, cutting edge technology, photography, expanding my culinary skills and travelling.  Living in Puerto Rico for this fellowship is also exposing me to much more island life than growing up in New Jersey ever did, and I can’t really complain about that!

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A Public Health Scientist’s Series of Fortunate Events

Nov 14 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Bonnie Rubin, Associate Director, State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa

A Public Health Scientist’s Series of Fortunate Events | www.aphlblog.org

I trained as a clinical laboratory scientist, or medical technologist as it was called when I graduated back in the day. I thought it would be neat to work in a zoo laboratory but my application to the St. Louis Zoo did not even warrant a phone interview. So, I found my first job in a private reference laboratory where the majority of samples were received via the United States postal system. You can imagine what the summer heat did to the white cells in blood sent for complete blood counts and differentials (exploded them!) and to the bacteria in the employee urine samples (exploded them too!). Since I didn’t think the quality of the laboratory was quite up to par, I left after working there for three months to work in a clinical laboratory in a brand new hospital. The laboratory oversight and management was actually outsourced to a (another) large private reference laboratory 100 miles away, BUT the quality requirements were what I had been trained to expect. Believe it or not, I became the manager of the laboratory after 3 months – by default, I think. However, after one year, it was time to move out of my hometown and get a life of my own.

I accepted a position at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Clinical Chemistry in the Department of Pathology and my career in laboratory medicine truly started. I worked as a bench tech for several years. There, I had the opportunity to become the supervisor and creator of the Critical Care Laboratory concept and operations; worked part-time and got my master’s degrees in the dual-program for healthcare administration and business administration; did an internship in pathology; and then was hired to be the executive administrator of the clinical and anatomic laboratories, pathology education and research labs (over 500 FTEs). During that time, I was tagged to lead a reorganization effort for the entire clinical and anatomic laboratory operations to make us more agile and flexible in responding to healthcare changes – this was during the Clinton Administration. We reduced laboratory units from 32 to six sections, and the number of supervisors from 24 to six. Needless to say, this was a major undertaking. During the month prior to full implementation, I was on maternity leave with our second son. I was very busy.

A few years after the reorganization, I was approached by a former colleague to apply for a general manager position at a start-up genomic discovery and biorepository company in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This was to be an “offer I couldn’t refuse.” So, we moved to Tewksbury, Massachusetts and I discovered what it was like to spend two hours driving twenty miles to work. Although we were only in MA for two years, the experience I gained in the private sector and the personal experiences that I and my family had while there were priceless – we have never regretted that decision.

We moved back to Iowa City in 2002, which is when public health and my career intersected. The State Hygienic Laboratory was advertising for a terrorism response coordinator and I was looking for a new adventure. Fortunately for me, the interview committee (which included Dr. Mary Gilchrist and Dr. Michael Pentella) offered me the opportunity to develop a robust emergency response program and ultimately provide me with many national, state and local opportunities as a public health professional. As response coordinator, I got to meet a LOT of new friends and colleagues in disciplines I NEVER would have if I had stayed in clinical or private laboratories. I have to admit I was intimidated when I first met the commander and staff of our 71st Civil Support Team. Having them to my house for burgers and beer, made our partnership even more solid and dependable.

Since 2009, I have been the Associate Director for Administrative Services. I oversee the non-analytical areas of the laboratory (finance, central accessioning, education and training, quality assurance, supply chain management, facilities and security). This phase of my career has definitely been exciting and sometimes daunting. Business theory indicates (Harvard Business Review, one of my favorite journals) that hospitals tend to be 10 years behind for-profit technology and processes. I believe public health is about 20 years behind, with the primary cause being lack of cash to build and maintain our business infrastructures. It has been quite the journey to identify, justify and implement new financial software, budgeting systems, test costing calculations and introducing staff to the concepts of process improvement in our customer delivery systems. Yes, quality assurance and control is not just for technical laboratory staff to use to improve what we do. The challenge, long hours and frustrations have been worth it. Our laboratory has a long way to go, but we are definitely on the right track and moving forward.

Being in public health has allowed me to become the best leader I can be. I have had the opportunity to work with national healthcare leaders, statewide leaders, and some of the best intellects in public and environmental science – opportunities I NEVER would have had in any other job. I am involved in policy making, new organizational models and processes – making a difference not only in my own Iowan community but also in the whole world of public and environmental health. I get to work outside the laboratory, recently being President of the Iowa Public Health Association, involved in the state’s STEM initiative, being a member of the Iowa Environmental Health Association and of course, being actively involved with the Association of Public Health Laboratories.

This series of fortunate events led me to where I am now at the State Hygienic Laboratory at the University of Iowa – and I wouldn’t change a thing.

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Would You Recommend the Laboratory Profession to a Young Person?

Oct 17 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Linette Granen, Director of Membership & Marketing, APHL

Would You Recommend the Laboratory Profession to a Young Person? | www.aphlblog.org

This was a question recently posted to one of my LinkedIn groups’ discussion boards, and I realized I needed to share my answer with as many people I could.  I turned my answer into an essay* about my years in the laboratory profession and I do want to share it.

(*Editor’s note: Linette wrote “assay” instead of “essay.”  That’s how committed to laboratory science she is!)

After being in the clinical laboratory science field for well over 30 years, I would recommend a career in clinical laboratory science to young people. And yes, I have had the opportunity (and challenge) of working the late shift while having a one year old whom I saw for only an hour or two a day; I have worked in a doctor’s office where I did EKGs, X-rays, ultrasounds and lab work, although I made it very clear that I was not trained to do them; I have been the manager of diagnostic laboratory services at a college of veterinary medicine; and I eventually landed in my current job as the marketing and membership director for APHL.

While there were challenges and frustrations working in a laboratory, I am an optimistic type of person, and I think that the laboratory profession has been elevated in the perception of patients and the public in the past few years. We as laboratory professionals (current and former) need to continue our efforts to improve that perception. I honestly think we can be our own worst enemies; we often struggle to unite and bring others into the fold instead of taking our future into our own hands and changing things.

In many ways, the laboratory profession has been good to me over the years, and I am passionate that it continue to be a viable piece of the healthcare system in this country. I remember years ago when I was working for the vet school, I wanted to elevate the medical technologists who worked in the lab into the “professional” ranks. The human resources department was astounded to learn that the US Department of Labor cited medical technology as its example of a professional position, noting that it required a extensive medical knowledge and the ability to make vital decisions every day. Needless to say, the med techs got their professional upgrade and their pay raises.

After years of working with public health laboratories, I see a passion there that I didn’t see in the purely clinical lab field, and it’s very encouraging! I see lab professionals that do clinical work but also do screening tests that affect the make-up of the flu vaccine you and I get each year. They are able to determine the exact strain of Salmonella that is causing a national foodborne illness outbreak.  They can confirm a metabolic disorder in a newborn thus allowing that child to lead a normal life.  They can detect harmful bacteria and chemicals in drinking and recreational water. And those are just a few examples. What I’ve learned over the years is that if you are unhappy in your job, no matter what it is, you are the only one who can do anything about that.

Just my opinion…

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Exciting New Laboratory Training Opportunities This Fall

Oct 09 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Beaker, Your Lab Training Partner

Hi there!  Beaker here again, your lab’s best friend! I want to alert you to some great APHL webinars coming up this month.  Some of the courses are free!  And the webinars are a really good deal because everyone in your lab can attend for around $150 (some are less), everyone gets to listen in on the day of the webinar, and everyone gets CEUs.  Even people who aren’t there on the day of the live webinar can login after the broadcast to participate and earn CEUs.  What a bargain!  Look at the bottom of the page to see the pre-recorded webinars—same great deal!

Exciting New Laboratory Training Opportunities This Fall | www.aphlblog.org

Fall is in the air, and my friends at APHL want to remind you to get your flu shot this year!  A great website and app is Flu Near You.  If you haven’t downloaded it or seen it, you should — they list all the places where you can find a flu shot, and you can help track the latest flu outbreaks.

Have you been wondering how this year’s flu season will stack up against others from a lab perspective?  Do you want to know what types of flu are circulating or are expected to circulate?  Although you missed our October 1st webinar update on flu, you can still register your lab for the archived webinar, 2013 Influenza Update,  facilitated by Dr. Pete Shult and Dr. Julie Villanueva.  Dr. Shult, commonly known as the “guru of flu,” is an expert in virology and can tell you anything you want to know about influenza.  He is the director of the Communicable Disease Division and Emergency Lab Response Communicable Disease Division at the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene.  Dr. Villanueva is with the Virus Surveillance and Diagnostics Branch, Influenza Division at CDC.  They also discuss the novel strains of flu circulating – all those Hs and Ns confuse everyone! This archived webinar will help you understand them.

After your lab attends the October 1st Flu Update webinar, check your Flu IQ with the flu IQ widget from the CDC website and pass it along to your friends and family.

Attention all clinical labs – On October 10th, APHL is co-sponsoring a webinar with ASCLS entitled Challenging Cases in Hematology with Kathleen Finnegan, from Stony Brook University in New York.  This should be a fascinating journey through challenging hematology case studies focusing on diagnostic criteria in characterizing leukemias, myelodysplastic disorders and myeloproliferative neoplasms.  Also, on October 24th, APHL is partnering with ASM for Changes in LRN Sentinel Lab Protocols.  The speaker is Dr. Jim Snyder from the University of Louisville who will summarize the NEW revisions to the microbiology protocols and tell you how to meet the responsibility of “rule out or refer.”   Two must-attend webinars for your labs!

Another exciting series of webinars coming up in October is the gastroenteritis series on October 8th, 15th and 22nd. Your lab can register for all three and save $60!  The first in the series deals with processing, culture and handling of bacteria that cause gastroenteritis, like Salmonella, Shigella, STEC, Campylobacter and Clostridium difficile.  The speaker for this first webinar is Romney Humphries, PhD, D(ABMM) who is from the UCLA School of Medicine.  The second in the series goes through antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) of those bacteria which is sometimes concerning given the threat of resistance.  You will get some great pointers on reporting of AST and ways to structure pathogen antibiogram reports by our well-known speaker, Janet Hindler, MCLS, MT(ASCP) from UCLS Healthcare System.  She is definitely an expert and you will come away with lots of knowledge, I can assure you!  The last webinar is called, “Management of Patients with Bacterial Gastroenteritis” and this is the one you should invite your infection control team and infectious disease doctors to participate in with you!  The speaker is Dr. Joshua Fierer who is Professor of Medicine and Pathology, UC San Diego School of Medicine and Chief of Infectious Diseases for the VA San Diego.

That’s it for now.  Be sure to email me if you want any more info or just want to talk!  Remember, I am your lab’s best friend!

 

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Dogs Ease Work Stress and Great Lab Continuing Education Does Too

Aug 14 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Beaker, Your Lab Training Partner

I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Beaker, APHL’s unofficial mascot for its laboratory training program.  You may not know me personally, but I am your lab training partner!  I know that you are always looking for good continuing education programs to help you and your staff keep up to speed on what is happening in laboratory science… and believe me, a lot is happening!  APHL has put together a variety of webinars this fall that ease the stress of where to find the continuing education that everyone in your lab needs.  Who exactly are these webinars for? Those of you working in clinical, academic, reference, veterinary, research, public health, environmental laboratories – any labs that do any type of analysis on humans, animals or environmental specimens. If that’s you, keep reading!

Dogs Ease Work Stress and Great Lab Continuing Education Does Too | www.aphlblog.org

Did you know that APHL training webinars are available to your entire staff at one reasonable, low price?  The registration fee includes one-line access to the webinar on the broadcast date, access to the webinar for all those who want to listen in at your site AND six months’ access for the rest of your staff.  And, yes, that does include continuing education units (CEUs) as well.  What a bargain!  If I were you, I’d be happier than if my friends and had ended up in a room full of fire hydrants!

And did you know that you can register your site for the archived webinar for six months after the live training?  If the date doesn’t work for you, don’t worry!

Coming up this September is a webinar on the new OSHA Chemical Standard that outlines what EVERY lab needs to know about the new standard and the new safety data sheets which you may already be seeing in your laboratories.  OSHA mandates that all employers conduct training by December of this year to get their employees up to speed, and this webinar will satisfy that requirement.  The program, on September 19 at 1:00 ET, will be presented by Eric Clark, the Safety Officer for Los Angeles County—can’t get a better safety expert than that!

Speaking of safety, APHL also has two other webinars in September on safety issues. The first covering laboratory-acquired infections, will be presented by Karen Byers, the Biosafety Officer for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston on September 17.  Risk Assessment for Clinical Microbiology Laboratories  also is scheduled for September. Mary DeMartino from the State Hygienic Laboratory at The University of Iowa will be the speaker.  With all of these safety webinars, your laboratory a safer place to work. But I know safety is only one of your stressors and must-haves in professional education.

Since regulatory issues are always on your mind, APHL is partnering with the American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science (ASCLS) to present a webinar, CLIA Summer Update on Hot Topics 2013.  Judy Yost of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) will be just back from the summer Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee (CLIAC) meeting and will discuss (among other hot topics) the latest breaking news on competency assessments, quality systems and a pilot project for education of CLIA-waived laboratories.

That’s just the beginning of APHL’s training line-up!

I’ll leave you with one last bit (or kibble) of information:  Since I am your best friend, I know that working in a laboratory can be stressful.  Fortunately, CDC has resources that can help you deal with stress.  Check them out today! And did you know that owning a dog or having one at work with you (I know that’s impossible for you!) alleviates stress?  And as reluctant as I am to admit it, cats can help too (but probably not as much as dogs)!  At Harvard Medical School, they even have a resident pooch at their library to help students, staff and faculty relieve stress.  Good stuff!

Have a GRRRReat August and September—we will talk again soon!  By the way, if you need to ask me any questions, I am available by email.  I’ll have to get one of my humans to translate, but feel free to contact me!

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Unlocking My Unselfish Gene

Apr 25 2013 :: Published in Infectious Diseases, Workforce & Professional Development

By Sharon Master, Biological Sciences Bureau Chief, Scientific Laboratory Division, New Mexico Department of Health

If I were yanked off the street five years ago and informed that I would soon be working in public health I might have been aghast, to say the least.  I was exceptionally clueless as to what public health was or what a public health laboratory did even though our state lab was located two buildings away from where I worked on campus at the University of New Mexico.  Fortuitously for me that soon changed.

Sharon Master -- New Mexico Public Health Laboratory

I have always been the blatantly curious type and, having more of a penchant for matters scientific than artistic, I left my home in India for the US to pursue my Ph.D. in Microbiology in the hopes that I could pursue my ambitions of trying to find a cure for some insidious disease.  A couple years after graduating, I returned to India where I shot into the world of clinical testing and research, with a focus on tuberculosis. Having witnessed the ravages of tuberculosis around me, I decided to make this disease the focus of the cure I longed to discover. I then hopped back across the ocean to an academic setting in the US.  After a decade or so of research with no concrete remedy for tuberculosis in my crosshairs, dwindling will-power, my rude realization that I was not really cut out for the cutthroat competition of research, and feeling overwhelmingly unmotivated, I searched ravenously for new challenges.

Serendipitously, through my network of friends I learned of a managerial position at the New Mexico state laboratory.  I interviewed for the job and got it. A little over three years have passed and I am still here as ecstatic and motivated as I can be, certain that this is exactly where I am meant to be.

Fortunately for me, my transition from academia has been relatively free from trauma as I attempt to fit into this new, fascinating world of public health, dwelling in the midst of some of the pathogens I love, while learning of others I never knew existed.  I’ve encountered a plethora of fascinating events, most of them pathogen and outbreak related, such as a plague case or two, several food outbreak investigations, and an elephant with tuberculosis, to name a handful.  On the whole, my experience has been overwhelmingly mesmerizing.

I am constantly brought back to a feeling from my early days in public health that has lodged itself in my psyche and liberates me.  It was during my first year at the state lab that I was dispatched to a national tuberculosis conference in Atlanta.  This was my first non-academic conference and, to me, wide-eyed as I was, the difference in the mentality of the conferees was astronomical.  I did not witness the furtive, egotistical, and selfish I, me, mine mentality that I experienced in the academic world but in fact observed quite the opposite.  The overall unselfish generosity, warmth, and pervading helpful attitude of the citizens of public health that I constantly bump into renders me awestruck, for the most part, and is something I try to aim for frequently.  This mind-set can be neatly summarized through a quote from Mister Spock, science officer of the USS Enterprise, “the needs of the many far outweigh the needs of the few.” With a bit of luck, in a few years I shall reach that destination of completely unlocking my unselfish gene.

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Into the Wild: Lab Edition

Apr 24 2013 :: Published in Infectious Diseases, Workforce & Professional Development

By Samantha Case, APHL/CDC EID Training Fellow, Arctic Investigations Program, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

It looks like a scene from one of the countless reality shows based in Alaska: the main character is bundled up, but still cold. She has just boarded a small five-person bush plane after arriving to the landing strip via snow machine. Then, she takes off on a flight flying east toward Anchorage from the southwest coastal area of Alaska. She’s looking at the land beneath her, noticing how it changes from vast tundra to an intricate network of rivers and streams to beautiful mountain ranges. She’s returning from a small village of Alaska Natives where she was assisting with a public health study, and had the opportunity to hear the Yup’ik Eskimo language and purchase native crafts. Sound like an adventure? Well, it is – only I’m the main character and this is just a small part of my experience as an APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Training Fellow.

Samantha Case -- APHL/CDC EID Training Fellow

As a microbiology major in college, I was fascinated with infectious diseases. It wasn’t until I traveled to Lima, Peru during my junior year of college that I discovered public health. I worked with a group of student volunteers to deliver mobile health clinics to impoverished communities. While others were interested in medicine or dentistry, I wanted to know more about big picture solutions that would improve health on a community level. The following year, I was able to combine my interests of microbiology and public health during a semester-long internship at the Vermont Department of Health Laboratory learning techniques in microbiology and how a public health laboratory functions. I was hooked! I wanted to learn even more so I applied to the EID fellowship program. I was ecstatic when I was accepted the following summer!

After narrowing down potential host laboratories for my year-long fellowship, I chose CDC’s Arctic Investigations Program (AIP) in Alaska because of the unique opportunity it would provide. AIP focuses on vaccine-preventable diseases and emerging infections, particularly ones that disproportionately affect the Alaska Native people. From networking with international partners for circumpolar surveillance to collaborating with local agencies here in Anchorage, AIP is certainly fundamental in enhancing public health in the state of Alaska and the arctic.

My fellowship has been incredibly diverse and has exceeded my expectations.  In addition to village trips, I have trained in traditional microbiology and molecular diagnostics within AIP. My main project involves looking at the population structure of Streptococcus pneumoniae (bacteria that cause invasive diseases, including meningitis and bacteremia), using a type of DNA sequencing called multilocus sequence typing (MLST). I have also been active outside of AIP: I rotated through the Alaska State Public Health Laboratory for two weeks, and I am currently assisting on a cellular immunity project with Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium. I will also be training at the Alaska State Virology Laboratory in June.

When I told others I picked AIP as my host lab, I received many strange looks. People couldn’t believe I was moving all the way to Alaska from the east coast! However, I couldn’t be happier with my decision. My goal was to make the most out of my fellowship opportunity – to learn as much as possible, and to get hands-on experience in many different areas – and I have certainly done that. Each day, I work with an amazing group of people who are truly dedicated to their work, and they inspire me to continue on my path in public health.

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The Difference between County and State Health Departments (from a Newbie’s Perspective)

Apr 17 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Kayleigh Jennings, APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratory Fellow, Florida Bureau of Public Health Laboratories- Tampa

Have you ever wondered why so many health departments exist, what they do, and why there is even a county and state health department separation?  Maybe you haven’t, but I sure have.  Upon arriving at the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Public Health Laboratories in Tampa, Florida to begin my APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Disease Fellowship (mouthful, I know), I doubted that a state health department would function any differently than a county health department.  Needless to say, I was wrong.

I may not be a veteran in the public health world, but after being immersed in the Florida Department of Health, I learned a thing or two about a thing or two.  Since one of the main goals of the fellowship was to mold public health leaders for the future, I wanted to learn as much as I could about anything related to the health of the population.  After approximately six months at the state department of health, I decided to reach out to the Pinellas County Health Department to grasp exactly how different it was from the Florida Department of Health.

Kayleigh Jennings -- APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Disease Laboratory Fellow

My first sign, as I walked through the doors of the county health department on my first day of the rotation, was a crowd.  Not just a few people, but a crowd of sick individuals sitting in a waiting room.  This waiting room was then followed by another waiting room, and what’s that down yonder…an STD clinic?  Wait…so real people come here?  They don’t just do testing on faceless samples?

After meeting with the appropriate supervisors, I was led down to the clinics where I put on a fancy lab coat, shadowed doctors and nurses, and met with patients all day.  Almost the entire county health department was run like a hospital with nurses running around, staff working way too many hours, and frustrated doctors dealing with noncompliant patients that simply say no to taking their TB medications.  After eight long hours, it was undeniably easy to see that the hardworking individuals at the county health department were in it for their love of helping people.

While at the Pinellas County Health Department, I took every opportunity that I could, whether it was traveling with a supervisor to an HIV clinic, sitting in on a syphilis patient interview, or even watching how the nurses filled out paperwork.  I realized that the county health department was an entirely different realm than the state department of health.  After my rotation, it became very clear to me why both health departments are necessary to the health of the society.

Despite having a deep respect for the staff at the Pinellas County Health Department, I am very happy to have been placed at the Florida Department of Health, because here our samples do not disrespect you or tell you that they will not take their medication.  Important routine testing, and even surge surveillance, is done at the state department of health.  From influenza surveillance to arbovirology surveillance and even rabies testing, they do it all.  Sample after sample, these individuals work as hard as I’ve ever seen to pump out speedy and accurate results so that county health departments, doctors, hospitals, and more health care providers can tell their patients what illness they may or may not have.  The individuals here spend their time effectively and they are all proud to say that they contribute to public health.

After being able to see the differences between the two health departments, I am truly able to value the qualities of each.  I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with individuals involved in public health because they are all unique and absolutely captivating in their own way.  The field of public health is not one for the weak of heart, because having a heart is exactly what all of these individuals have.  They thrive on the simple idea of helping others.

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Syphilis: An Old Disease That Keeps on Giving

Feb 12 2013 :: Published in Infectious Diseases, Workforce & Professional Development

By Kelly E. Wroblewski, MPH, MT (ASCP), Director of Infectious Disease Programs, APHL

Syphilis public health campaign poster

Looking for that perfect Valentine’s Day gift that keeps on giving? How about syphilis? This Valentine’s Day, APHL and ASCLS are hosting a webinar, VD (Valentine’s Day) and Syphilis: An Old Disease Still with Us, on new testing methods for the detection of a very old disease. As is the case with many long-lasting-loves, being old does not make you irrelevant on Valentine’s Day.

What is syphilis?

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted disease that has been plaguing the globe for more than 500 years with the first documented cases occurring in 15th century Europe.  Evolutionary biologists point to syphilis as the first truly global epidemic, with multiple studies showing that the then deadly disease originated in the New World and was introduced to Europe by Christopher Columbus (who later died of the deadly disease) and his crew and quickly spread to Africa and Asia. It was not the souvenir they were hoping for. “Christopher Columbus explored the world and all I got was this deadly disease!”

Syphilis was very common throughout history until the introduction of penicillin in the 1940s.  With the introduction of this effective treatment came the United States’ first widespread public health campaign that openly promoted use of condoms, testing and treatment as a means to control the spread of syphilis and gonorrhea.  Aimed primarily at members of the U.S. military, World War II era public health campaigns focused on “responsible masculinity” and patriotism in efforts to de-stigmatize the disease.

Although case rates have remained relatively stable since the mid-1990s, there are still certain populations and geographic areas where syphilis remains a significant public health problem and public health measures to control the disease must remain constant.

Recent syphilis outbreaks in the news:

  • In September 2012 Houston, TX reported a 97% uptick in reported cases. Officials linked the outbreak to increased use of social media to find sexual partners.
  • A recent public health investigation of an outbreak in rural Kansas prompted the identification of a pregnant woman infected with the disease preventing transmission to her unborn baby. In infants, syphilis can cause blindness, deafness, and, in up to half of the cases, still birth.

Avoiding risky sexual behavior and using condoms is the best way to prevent syphilis transmission.  Testing and treatment in the early stages of infection remain the best way to control its spread. For more information on signs, symptoms and treatment for syphilis, see the CDC fact sheet.

Our advice: your special someone will appreciate chocolate and roses this Valentine’s Day rather than syphilis. Trust us on that.

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Former Emerging Infectious Disease Training Fellow Shares: Why Public Health

Jan 08 2013 :: Published in Workforce & Professional Development

By Elizabeth Perez, APHL/CDC Emerging Infectious Diseases Advanced Laboratory Training Fellow, Class 13

The field of public health is not for the faint of heart. Many of us find ourselves having to make due with limited resources, work extended hours with short notice, and have to always be prepared for that phone call that always happens to come on a Friday afternoon. So why would anyone want to choose to go into public health?

The answer is that the individuals who stick around despite the conditions I just mentioned are always highly motivated individuals committed to excellence.  Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? After working side-by-side with public health laboratorians during my Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Training Fellowship in 2007, I knew public health was the right career path for me.

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After a nerve-wracking process of applying and interviewing along with other outstanding candidates I was absolutely certain that I would not be chosen, so you can imagine how surprised and excited I was to learn that I was selected to join APHL’s  thirteenth class of EID fellows. Moving from New York City to Atlanta to work at my host lab at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention marked the beginning of an amazing year as an EID fellow.

The project I conducted during my fellowship involved the use of an engineered bacteriophage to disrupt biofilms that were formed by E. coli on urinary catheters. This project was the perfect match for me because it catered to my interests in microbiology and medicine. During my fellowship I learned how to grow bacterial biofilms and bacteriophage, worked with flow model systems and got my hands on all sorts of medical devices. I had the best and most encouraging mentor anyone could ask for, Dr. Rodney Donlan, whose extensive knowledge and enthusiasm for biofilms was inspiring. I felt very fortunate to work under the guidance of such an exceptional scientist and soon found that having a terrific mentor was something I had in common with the other fellows.

In addition to working on an exciting project, I was also part of a cohort of other EID fellows who were superb individuals with similar interests. That year some of us traveled together to Boston for the American Society for Microbiology General Meeting, and got together again at the International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases thanks to funding from APHL.

Looking back at the extraordinary opportunity that was afforded to me by APHL, I can say with absolute certainty that my experience as an EID fellow was the turning point that set me on this trajectory toward public health. Today I am a graduate student that is studying emerging infectious diseases and sometimes find myself wondering where I would be had it not been for APHL. I always come to the same conclusion: that it is best not to think of a life that is not invigorated by a discipline that is both challenging and fulfilling.

(The photo above was taken during the Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, which was held in Atlanta during March 18-22, 2010. I worked up the courage to introduce myself to Dr. Julie Gerberding, former CDC director, at a plenary session where she was an invited speaker. Dr. Gerberding was very gracious while I was starstruck.)

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