Friday, April 4, 2025
4/4/2025
Category B: Providing Capacity Building Assistance to State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Applied Epidemiologists - Applied epidemiology is the core of public health practice and provides the foundation for developing a public health response to any disease threat and for promoting health equity by understanding the root causes of diseases. In fact, four of The Ten Essential Public Health Services as well as the Foundational Public Health Services – both of which define national standards and capabilities needed to safeguard health – are rooted in applied epidemiology. In addition, there is strong consensus among experts that we need to modernize our public health data systems and simultaneously train public health professionals to operate these systems – including applied epidemiologists. While the State, tribal, local and territorial (STLT) applied epidemiology workforce continues to grow, there are still significant gaps in epidemiologic capacity, both in number of staff and skills needed. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) proposes to provide capacity building assistance to STLT applied epidemiologists through workforce development and technical assistance initiatives. These CBA activities will help strengthen the U.S. public health system by enhancing our nation’s applied epidemiology and surveillance capacity and improving STLT agencies’ ability to deliver essential public health services. Through the cooperative agreement with CDC, CSTE will undertake the following activities that are designed to address five strategic areas: 1. Organizational Capacity and Performance Improvement, 2. Workforce, 3. Data Modernization, Informatics and Information Technology 4. Partnership Development and Engagement, and 5. Policy and Programs: • Enhance public health systems infrastructure by assessing workforce capacity and developing standards of practice that help STLT public health agencies. • Create a Health Equity Framework to address the social determinants of health, reduce health disparities, and support the achievement of health equity through equitable and inclusive public health data collection. • Increase epidemiology workforce capacity in STLT health agencies through competency-based training for applied epidemiologists in all career levels and recruiting recent graduates into applied epidemiology careers through fellowship training programs. • Advance data modernization in public health agencies by identifying essential data-related capabilities, gaps, and strategies to implement modern technology for routine public health action and emergency response and equipping the applied epidemiology workforce with the skills needed to operate data systems. • Provide guidance on evidence-based practices and expert recommendations to inform policy that leads to more effective public health practice. • Promote collaboration between STLT and federal agencies and other organizations so STLT epidemiologists are better prepared to leverage partnerships and engage with the public health community at-large to strategically address public health needs. • Provide technical assistance and identify best practices, which lead to the development of tools and resources to improve public health practice. Through these activities, CSTE aims to achieve the following outcomes: • Enhanced skill and ability to support decision-making toward processes, policies, programs, and practices within the strategic areas • Improved organizational and systems capacity and capability to address equity focused public health priorities • Improved effectiveness of organizational and systems infrastructure and performance
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).