ASPPH recently convened its third Disease Intervention Specialist (DIS) regional meeting. With funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), ASPPH, along with the National Board of Public Health Examiners (NBPHE), is developing a national DIS Certification, which aims to recruit, train, and retain the disease intervention workforce, strengthen pathways to careers, and standardize knowledge, skills, and abilities of disease intervention professionals.

Held at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy, Dean Ayman El-Mohandes graciously offered welcoming remarks. The Host Dr. Sean Haley, Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management, serves as a public health workforce development pipeline subject matter expert for DIS Certification. Dr. Haley worked with ASPPH to convene a panel of infectious disease, epidemiology, and medical experts, as well as disease intervention professionals representing local and state health departments throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Participants were greeted by Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. Meeting facilitators from The Vianova Group led participants through interactive exercises and discussions aimed at identifying and evaluating potential educational pathways for the disease intervention workforce, sharing priorities for recruitment, training, certification, and retention of the disease intervention workforce, and identifying strategies for moving the current disease intervention workforce toward certification.

In December, ASPPH will convene representatives from community colleges across the nation to explore pathways to careers in disease intervention, co-hosted by Dr. Cynthia Wilson and the League for Innovation in the Community College.

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