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Calendar of Events
ACE Annual Meeting
September 11-14
San Fransico, California
Details
Deadline to propose symposia for Epi Congress
October 31, 2010
Details
3rd North American Congress of Epidemiology
June 21-24, 2011
Montreal, Canada
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President's Letter
Lorann Stallones
Hello all! I trust each of you had a pleasant spring and are enjoying some rest and relaxation as summer moves forward. I spent the end of May attending graduation celebrations, one daughter from high school and the other daughter from college. In a surprisingly odd turn of events, both will be attending Colorado State University in the fall, my youngest seeking a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree and my older daughter in a Masters Degree Program in Public History. Sadly, neither is much interested in epidemiology.
In the current economic climate I thought it would be of interest to bring you up to date on the financial health of the College. The oversight for finances of ACE is the responsibility of the Finance Committee and the Treasurer. We have been fortunate in the willingness of James (Jim) Collins to serve as Treasurer for the College since 2002. Through his careful stewardship, the College has maintained a healthy financial position for many years.
The Finance Committee is responsible for long range budgeting and investment of ACE funds, and serves in an advisory capacity to the Treasurer and the Board of Directors. Denise Oleske, past Chair of the Finance Committee worked diligently with the Finance Committee and the Board of Directors to develop a fiscally sound investment strategy that has contributed to the current stability of finances of ACE. Although our assets in 2009 ($307,642.58) were slightly lower than 2008 ($309,096.22) the overall financial picture for ACE is excellent. The current Chair of the Committee is Larry Segars.
Dr. Collins has worked closely with the ACE Board of Directors and FirstPoint, the management company that keeps our house in order, to have the College designated a 501c3 non-profit organization to enhance our ability to seek tax deductible donations. That has been a long journey but the process appears to be very close to completion. The Board and the Finance Committee felt this would be of benefit for increasing options for fund raising for the College. We owe our colleagues gratitude for their diligent and volunteer efforts maintaining the financial health of this important organization.
Please check the website for updates regarding the ACE Annual Meeting “Improving Reality: the Role of modeling in epidemiology” in San Francisco September 11-14, 2010. The Program Planning Committee has worked very hard to put together an interesting panel of speakers and sessions.
I look forward to seeing many of you at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco.
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Annual Meeting: Modeling in epidemiology and other highlights.
Richard Rothenberg
Models are so pervasive in epidemiology that we barely notice that we are using them when we construct a 2x2 table or do a linear regression. This year’s meeting will address many of the issues in modeling—types, strengths and weaknesses, appropriate and inappropriate use, and alternatives to the standard approaches. Presenters include practitioners, methodologists, and decision makers. Key speakers and topics are detailed below.
Diana Petiti, Professor in the Department of Biomedical Informatics at Arizona State University, and Otis Brawley, Professor of Medicine (hematology and oncology) at Emory University and Chief Medical Officer of the American Cancer Society, will discuss the recent changes in the recommendations for mammography screening. The recommendations, and the models on which they are based, have generated considerable controversy, and will be examined in detail by these Keynote Speakers.
Sander Greenland, Professor of Epidemiology and Statistics, UCLA will provide a long term perspective on the current use of modeling in epidemiology. Professor Greenland will also conduct a workshop on Bayesian analysis on the Sunday preceding the conference. Three panel sessions will be devoted to different aspects of modeling. Nicolas Jewell, Professor of Biostatistics and Statistics at the University of California, Berkeley, will chair the panel on Statistical Models in epidemiology. He and panel members will consider the major statistical models currently used, with special attention to appropriate applications and pitfalls. Babak Pourbohloul, Director of Mathematical Modeling at the University of British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, will moderate a panel that considers the popular mathematical models that are used in epidemiologic analysis with emphasis on the important findings that have emerged from these constructs. Sandro Galea, Chairman of the Department of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, will consider with co-panelists the current use of multi-level modeling in epidemiologic analysis, with special attention to its applications in social epidemiology.
In other Keynote sessions, Edward Trapido, Professor and Chair of Cancer Epidemiology, Louisiana State University, will address the epidemiologic consequences of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Roberta Ness, Dean, University of Texas School of Public Health and Past President of the American College of Epidemiology, will continue a theme that she has developed in past written work on the need for risk taking and new directions in epidemiology. In the Reception Address, Robert Croyle, PhD, Director of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, National Cancer Institute will address the issue of epidemiology opportunities in Health Care Reform. |
An exciting mentoring and networking opportunity awaits associate members at the upcoming Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Under the auspices of the ACE Mentoring Committee, a dynamic, information-filled workshop has been planned to provide associate member attendees with information on career options and opportunities for those members that are just beginning their epidemiology career, as well as for those interested in learning how to transition into an epidemiology position. Join senior and recently-hired epidemiologists as they discuss in both roundtable and panel format job opportunities in all epidemiologic fields including, academia, industry, consulting, and governmental. Additional information with specific workshop program titles, times and date are available on the ACE website. Please note that this workshop will be held on Sunday, September 12 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm; the workshop is free. Questions related to this unique ACE workshop should be directed to Linda Cohen at LCC3@comcast.net.
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| Election Results |
President: Robert McKeown
Board of Directors (Fellows): Richard Baumgartner, Cathy Critchlow, Pauline Mendola
Board of Directors (Member): Julie Goodman
Full biographies are on the ACE website. |
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| In The News |
Doctoral Degree in Epidemiology and Translational Science from University of California, San Francisco
The University of California San Francisco is accepting applications for a new doctoral degree in Epidemiology and Translational Science for the fall of 2010. The deadline is July 12. Contact David Swanson (dswanson@psg.ucsf.edu) or the UCSF website (http://www.epibiostat.ucsf.edu/) for more information. |
| From the Board of Directors |
It’s summer time! The associate membership of the ACE remains in full swing assisting the Programming Committee with the plans for the upcoming Annual Meeting in San Francisco. If you are interested in assisting with the planning of associate member events and activities, please contact me or Jan Eberth. The ACE Associate member committee leadership would like to welcome our newest ACE standing committee representatives: Arica White serving on the Minority Affairs Committee, Alain Labrique on the Ethics Committee, and Joe Holbrook on the Career Mentoring Committee. The last day to complete the annual associate membership survey is June 30, 2010. If you haven’t done so already, please point your web browser to: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22AEWCKWCUH. As always, please contact any of us if we can improve your experience with the College or have any ideas you would like us to implement. Please enjoy and safe and healthy summer vacation! Best Wishes, Alberto |
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Identifying Core Competencies in Doctoral-Level and Master-Level Epidemiological Training
The Education Committee develops educational courses and oversees planning of the scientific program for the annual meeting. In recent years, there has been interest in developing competencies for a range of fields, including public health. Prior efforts by the ACE, the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) have identified various domains and competencies important to epidemiological training. Although there have been considerable efforts in identifying these domains and competencies, there is still work to be done. In Spring 2009, a sample of ACE members were invited to respond to on-line surveys regarding competencies (one for “established” epidemiologists and one for recent graduates of epidemiology programs). These surveys included previously identified domains and competencies and asked respondents to indicate the importance of each for individuals receiving various graduate degrees in epidemiology. A total of 183 individuals completed these surveys. Results have provided considerable insight into what competencies are important for individuals receiving graduate training in epidemiology. For example, several competencies previously identified as important for individuals receiving graduate training in epidemiology were rated as “unimportant” by respondents. Other competencies were clearly identified as being “important” for all individuals receiving higher education in epidemiology, regardless of the degree. However, several questions have also emerged including: 1) What are the similarities and differences among MS, MSPH, and MPH degrees in epidemiology and are there different expectations for individuals receiving these degrees? and 2) Do competencies differ by job setting (i.e. academic, hospital, government, and private research/industry settings)? At the 2010 ACE Meeting, the Education Committee will further explore these questions during a “brainstorming” roundtable session. The roundtable session will be held at lunch time on Monday, September 13. Eventually, a Delphi process will be used in order to gather expert opinions and synthesize these opinions to reach consensus on the core competencies important to graduate-level training in epidemiology. Please join us at the 2010 ACE annual meeting in San Francisco to talk about this work!
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Nominate your colleagues for ACE membership! You depend on ACE and we count on you, too! We know our current members are the best resource for new members who could benefit from all that ACE offers. We are launching a Member-Get-A-Member Campaign this year and encourage you to contact your colleagues and invite them to join your organization, ACE.
Tips for the successful recruitment of a new member:The Ethics Committee is charged with addressing ethical, legal and social issues, developing educational resources, working with other committees and advising the College and others, as appropriate. This committee deals with the full range of ethical issues in epidemiology. There are six specific subcommittees: 1) Ethics syllabus and bibliography collection project; 2) Review ACE code of ethics; 3) Develop guidelines for conflict of interest & industry-academic collaboration; 4) Develop peer review guidelines; 5) Collaborate with Canadian, Mexican counterparts; 6) Institutional Review Board issues. Several Ethics Committee items are currently posted on the ACE website: http://www.acepidemiology.org/cttes/ethics/. The Ethics Committee is planning to conduct a Luncheon Roundtable on Monday, September 13, ACE Annual Meeting. The roundtable will address the issue of “Ethical and Scientific Aspects of Small Epidemiologic Risks.” It will focus on the interaction of epidemiologic research and regulatory policy. There are several recent examples where relative risks on the order of 1.2 have been used to establish “causal” relationships and to implement regulations designed to reduce the environmental exposures involved in these relationships. However, there is substantial controversy regarding these relationships and the use of them for regulatory purposes. The above concerns will be applied to the epidemiologic relationship between fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) and mortality, which the California Air Resources Board (CARB) estimates is responsible for 18,000 premature California deaths per year. This relationship has been used by CARB to justify expensive diesel vehicle regulations designed to reduce PM2.5 levels in California. Important ethical and scientific issues will be discussed by speakers with divergent opinions on this controversial relationship in order to fairly examine this example of the interaction between epidemiology and public policy. The goal of the roundtable will be to produce recommendations regarding the ethical conduct of research involving small epidemiologic risks
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School’s out! This is the collective cheer for this time of year. The children in my house are busy texting their friends to arrange outings and X-Box activities. We can do the same! Plan to meet your friends at the Annual Meeting in San Francisco. Submit a proposal with more friends for the 2011 Congress. Don’t be outdone by some teenagers. C U Soon.
Carol Burns, Editor
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