Last week, ASPPH held its inaugural Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) regional meeting at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health (UNC). ASPPH, along with the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), is developing a national DIS Certification with funding and support from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
DIS Certification aims to strengthen recruitment, training, retention, standardization, and validation of the disease intervention workforce. Last week’s 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 Charletta Sims Evans, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs (UNC), serves as a public health workforce development pipeline subject matter expert for DIS Certification. Ms. Sims Evans worked with ASPPH to convene a panel of local disease intervention subject matter experts, with representation from early career professionals to those with decades of disease intervention experience. Participants were greeted by Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Dean (UNC). Meeting facilitators from The Vianova Group led participants through interactive exercises and discussions.
ASPPH will also be continuing these conversations with disease intervention subject matter experts at the University of Florida’s Emerging Pathogens Institute later this month. Host Dr. Cindy Prins, Clinical Associate Professor of Epidemiology at the University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions (U of Florida), has gathered infectious disease experts and representatives from state and local health departments 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.