Last week, ASPPH convened its second Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) regional meeting at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute. As a reminder, ASPPH, along with the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), is developing a national DIS Certification through funding and support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Similar to the inaugural DIS regional meeting at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, this meeting focused on identifying and evaluating educational pathways for the disease intervention workforce, sharing priorities for recruitment, training, certification, and retention, and strategizing ways to move the current workforce toward certification.

Host Dr. Cindy Prins, Clinical Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Florida, serves as a public health workforce development pipeline subject matter expert for DIS Certification. Dr. Prins worked with ASPPH to convene a panel of infectious disease, epidemiology, and medical experts representing the Emerging Pathogens Institute, the Southeastern National Tuberculosis Center, and the University of South Florida’s DIS Training Academy, as well as disease intervention professionals representing state and local health departments throughout Florida.

Meeting facilitators from The Vianova Group led participants through interactive exercises and discussions. ASPPH values the contributions of the disease intervention workforce, and this meeting was a great opportunity to discuss strategies for strengthening the disease intervention workforce with diverse professionals currently working in the field.

ASPPH will be traveling to New York City in October to continue these conversations with subject matter experts at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Host Dr. Sean Haley, Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Management, is gathering disease intervention and emergency preparedness experts, as well as representatives from state and local health departments in the tri-state area, to continue exploring strategies for recruiting, training, certifying, and retaining the disease intervention professional workforce.

Questions or comments can be submitted to Kaitlin Tager, Senior Manager of Workforce Development and Applied Practice, at ktager@aspph.org.