2023 CSTE Annual Conference Workshops

Advanced Molecular Detection Workshop

Exploring Genomic Epidemiology 

Full Day  | CSTE staff contact: Abby Hoffman

CSTE will host a full-day workshop that will focus on meaningful discussions on genomic epidemiology. Workshop attendees will have an opportunity to participate in information sharing and discussion around topics such as genomic epidemiology organizational structure, communication between laboratory, informatics and epidemiology and how to better utilize genomics for public health action. 

Enteric Disease Workshop   

Strengthening and Modernizing Enteric Disease Surveillance and Outbreak Response

Full Day |CSTE staff contact: Rachael Singer

CSTE, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will host an enteric disease surveillance workshop for epidemiologists. The purpose of this workshop is to engage in meaningful discussions surrounding the changes in foodborne, waterborne, and environmental surveillance and outbreak investigations. Presenters and attendees will include CSTE members, Enteric Disease Subcommittee co-chairs, members of the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) and CDC representatives from the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases (DFWED).  

Objectives: 

• Identify approaches to incorporating whole genome sequencing data in epidemiology surveillance systems to improve timely linkage of epidemiology and laboratory data 
• Describe new tools and processes that may increase interview rates in enteric disease investigations 
• Identify best practices for collection and analysis of exposure and demographic information in enteric disease investigations 
• Discuss outbreak investigations including crowd-sourced data and determine nationally coordinated approach for these investigations 
• Share challenges and lessons learned from COVID and mpox responses impacting enteric response capacity 

Environmental Health Workshop

Elevating Surveillance for Environmental Health Topics

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Kyra Parks

The CSTE Environmental Health Workshop will look to address environmental hazards such as disasters, climate events, exposures, and/or COVID-19 along with potential effects they may have on communities. Workshop attendees will better understand the cross-cutting nature of environmental health and how it intersects with health equity. The objectives of this workshop are to provide relevant and timely learning opportunities for epidemiologists, academia, and public health professionals in the fields of disaster, environmental, and climate epidemiology.  

Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI) and Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI/AR) Workshop

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Will Fritch

The purpose of this workshop is to share information and engage in meaningful discussions of the surveillance, reporting, prevention, and response pertaining to healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, including training and program leadership. Presenters and attendees will include CSTE members, CSTE fellows, HAI/AR Subcommittee leadership, and representatives from CDC and other partner agencies and organizations. Participation is not limited to HAI/AR Program staff; leadership and staff from other public health programs are encouraged to join us. 

Viral Hepatitis Surveillance Workshop 

Enhancing Prevention, Surveillance, and Elimination Efforts 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Symone Richardson

The Viral Hepatitis Surveillance workshop is targeted towards viral hepatitis surveillance coordinators, program coordinators, and additional state and local health department staff engaged in viral hepatitis surveillance activities. Workshop discussions will explore the existing capacity of viral hepatitis surveillance programs across various jurisdictions, identifying programmatic challenges, technical assistance needs, and opportunities for guidance, standardization, and collaboration as well as strategies to strengthen prevention efforts and pave the path towards elimination. Specific discussions will be held on topics including, but not limited to,  elimination planning and monitoring, linkage to care, and data to action. Attendees will have the opportunity to engage with a panel of viral hepatitis surveillance staff and participate in topical roundtables.

Infectious Disease Forecasting 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Ellie Bergren

The Infectious Disease Forecasting Workshop at the 2023 CSTE Annual Conference will include two sessions, one in the morning and one in the afternoon of June 25, 2023. The morning session is open to state epidemiologists (or delegates), as well as public health practitioners at the state, tribal, local, or territorial level. This session will provide an overview of the Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics (CFA) activities and products and their use for decision-making. State epidemiologists are then free to attend the State Epi Forum in the afternoon, while all other public health attendees may stay for the second session. 

The afternoon session is open to public health practitioners at the state, tribal, local, or territorial level. This session is designed as a training opportunity, in which participants will engage in hands-on exercises with modeling and forecasting tools and their applications in public health practice. 

Influenza Workshop 

National Meeting of Influenza Surveillance Coordinators 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Amelia Blumberg

CSTE, in collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will be hosting an Influenza Surveillance Coordinators Workshop on Sunday, June 25, 2023 in conjunction with the CSTE Annual Conference. The purpose of the workshop is to provide a forum for jurisdictions and CDC to discuss current themes in influenza and other respiratory virus surveillance, especially as it relates to COVID-19, and to strengthen relationships and cooperation between influenza programs from health departments around the country. Invited participants include Influenza Surveillance Coordinators from state, territorial, and large local health departments. Participants will also include representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This workshop is open to all registered attendees. 

Objectives:  

• Identify best practices in applied epidemiology of influenza and other infectious diseases. 
• Improve the epidemiology and informatics competency of public health practitioners. 
• Facilitate skill building opportunities. 
• Identify strategies and tools to ensure more efficient and effective analysis, communication, systems thinking, and program planning in prevention, identification, and response to influenza and other respiratory viral diseases in the United States. 

Injury Surveillance Workshop  

Guidance from the Field: Current Issues in Injury Surveillance Data 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Mia Israel

The CSTE Injury Surveillance Workshop will highlight updates from the field on current issues in injury surveillance. Sessions will provide technical assistance and education to applied injury epidemiologists on relevant data sources and current and emerging injury surveillance priorities. The workshop is open to anyone who registers, but Injury Surveillance Workgroup members are highly encouraged to attend. Presenters and attendees will include CSTE members, workgroup leadership, and CDC representatives from the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control (NCIPC) and National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS). 

Legal Workshop 

Advancing Health Equity through Laws & Data 

Half Day | CSTE staff contact: Sunbal Virk

The workshop will provide attendees with skills and knowledge to advance equity for health outcomes among populations facing disparities, including those experiencing homeless, substance use and people with disabilities, by identifying and analyzing laws and policies that enable strategies to collect, use, share and protect multi-sector data.  Accurate and relevant data is needed to identify the gaps and track progress to achieving health equity and the workshop will highlight case studies that have been able to successfully do so.

By attending the workshop, you will:  

• Learn about the legal barriers that prevent effective collection, sharing, and use of data to improve health of a population, particularly for those populations that already face disparities (e.g. LGBTQ+, racial/ethnic minorities, American Indians and Alaska Natives, people experiencing homelessness, etc.) 
• Learn about the ways in which the law enables data sharing for health improvement 

• Examine and identify ways in which laws and policies can accelerate public health efforts for health equity 
• Learn key elements of effective data use agreements (DUA) with varied stakeholders through an exercise during the workshop. 
• List of resources of laws/tools 

Legionnaires’ Disease Workshop 

Water Utah-lking about? Don’t be salty over Legionella; we have prevention plans 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Akila Simmons

This interactive Legionnaires’ disease workshop will review public health surveillance, investigations, and outbreak response best practices, CDC guidance documents, and toolkits. The workshop is targeted toward public health surveillance epidemiologists, environmental health specialists, drinking water professionals, laboratory professionals, healthcare licensing and investigations professionals, and healthcare-associated infections professionals interested in Legionella case and outbreak investigations.  Health departments will share their experiences and lessons learned during legionellosis clusters, outbreaks, and investigations through brief presentations and group discussions. The workshop will also provide an overview of the Evaluation Framework for Legionella Water Management Programs. 

Maternal and Child Health Symposium

Hoist the Sail: Navigating the Depths of MCH 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Valerie Goodson

The requirements of practitioners to adapt, adjust, pivot, prioritize have been more than anyone could have imagined. The existing epidemiology challenges for addressing the priority needs and key health issues faced by the mothers, children, and families may have decreased in priority during the pandemic. However, the impact of the pandemic uncovered new demands for addressing critical intersectionality issues. New challenges allow epidemiologists to improve their critical thinking, strategize on new methods, and increase utilization of specialized data tools.  As such, the 2023 MCH Symposium will feature a half day on exploring the emerging epi and surveillance topics and the second half focused on tackling the ongoing challenges within neonatal abstinence syndrome surveillance.  

AM: Potential Topics 

• MCH and COVID-19 
• MCH Maternal Mortality  
• MCH and Mental Health 
• MCH and disasters 

• MCH and wellness 
• 21st Century PH (discussions around training, hiring, retention) 
• Integrating MCH and other surveillance areas (syndromic surveillance, EMS data, etc.) 
• DEI & MCH Epi 
• MCH and Violence 

• Spatial Analysis in MCH (care deserts, hospital closures/shortages, out of hospital deliveries etc.)  
• Safe sleep – moving beyond education 

PM: Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome(NAS) Surveillance Topics 

• 19-MCH-01, the NAS Standardized Surveillance Case Definition Revision 

• CSTE NAS Surveillance Implementation Pilot Projects  
• Disparities and Diagnosis of NAS 
• Surveillance recommendations and tools

Occupational Health Surveillance

Surveillance Skills, Stretches, and Strategies 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Cailyn Lingwall

The 2023 CSTE Occupational Health Surveillance Workshop will focus on highlighting risk factors for occupational injuries and illnesses. The objective of the workshop will be to address regional and national injury and illness trends in the workplace, and to explore how increased and enhanced occupational health surveillance that can help reduce occupational risks. 

State Epi Forum 

Half Day | CSTE staff contact: Jennifer Lemmings

This half day afternoon convocation and workshop on Sunday June 25, 2023 of State Epidemiologists and the CSTE Executive Board is in response to feedback we have received to provide more opportunities for State Epidemiologists and invited guests to convene and discuss priority issues early in the Annual Conference. Agenda topics will be finalized and communicated to participants prior to the session on June 25, 2023. Participation is invite only. 

Substance Use & Mental Health 

Topics in Substance Use and Mental Health 

Half Day | CSTE staff contact: Danielle Boyd

The afternoon convening will give attendees opportunities to engage with peers and trade experiences across many areas of substance use and mental health surveillance. Open conversations and presentations will provide insights into topics such as data visualization, dissemination methods, data access through policy, data linkage, partnership building, linkage to care, mental health and much more. 

This workshop embodies the 2023 annual conference them of “Epidemiology Elevated: Supporting People and Places” by creating a forum for networking and peer learning. Attendees will leave the workshop with an understanding of how their peers approach common challenges in this work and how CSTE’s Substance Use- related subcommittees and communities may offer ongoing support throughout the year. With so many competing interests occurring during this time, drop in attendance is welcome and encouraged.  

Surveillance/Informatics Workshop

Ascending to New Heights in Surveillance and Informatics 

Full Day | CSTE staff contact: Megan Tompkins and Taylor Pinsent

The 2023 full day in person workshop, “Ascending to New Heights in Surveillance and Informatics”, aims to prepare the public health surveillance and informatics community to meet and help shape evolving data expectations.  The session will characterize the changing landscape, emphasize the need for public health to directly contribute to the conversation, demonstrate opportunities to build consensus across the public health surveillance community, and elevate public health voice. This workshop will provide participants with increased awareness of and opportunities to engage in strategies, standards, and technology needed both at STLT health departments as well as across the broader connected Public Health surveillance and informatics landscape. Participants will leave this workshop feeling inspired, motivated, and equipped with methods to collaborate to leverage data for action.    

Target Audience: Epidemiologists, informaticians, data analysts, data scientists, public health leadership, public health associations, and public health partners  

Using the Revised Applied Epidemiology Competencies (AECs) for Career Ladders, Position Descriptions and Training Plans 

Half Day | CSTE staff contact: Sarah Auer

The Applied Epidemiology Competencies were developed in 2008 to define the role and function of the applied epidemiologist. In 2022, CSTE engaged experienced epidemiologists to update the AECs to reflect the role of an epidemiologist in the 21st century and to implement data modernization activities. The revised AECs were finalized and released in 2023. The workshop will start by discussing the recent revisions. Attendees will hear from state, local and tribal agencies on how they have used the AECs in the past or plan to use the revised AECs to promote workforce development for their epidemiologists. After the presentations, attendees will break into small groups to discuss how they would like to use the revised AECs at their agency. The small groups will be able to practice updating job descriptions, career ladders and training plans using the revised AECs. Attendees are welcome to bring materials from their agencies to revise and receive peer feedback. 

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: 

• Describe the revisions to the Applied Epidemiology Competencies (AECs) 
• Discuss applications of the AECs in State, Local, Tribal and Territorial departments 
• Apply the revised AECs to update sample job descriptions, career ladders and training plans 

The ideal audience for this workshop will be participants in a supervisory role or those leading training activities.  

Vector-borne Diseases Workshop 

Tools of the Trade 

Half Day | CSTE staff contact: Rachel Radcliffe

The Vector-borne Diseases (VBD) Workshop will facilitate networking and information sharing among public health staff whose work focuses on VBD surveillance and capacity building. Topics to be covered in the workshop are anticipated to include VBD surveillance tools and guidance for using these tools, integrated pest management, partner building, and communication strategies.