The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology (OPHDST) has recently launched DMI Stories from the Field, a multimedia project highlighting the great work of our state, tribal, local, and territorial (STLT) health departments, CSTE, and applied epidemiologists across the country who've efficiently leveraged the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI) funding and principles to elevate public health efforts across the country. Over 180 stories featuring this work are hosted on the new CSTE website stories.CSTE.org.
The stories illustrate the progress of STLT health departments and highlight the transformational contributions of applied epidemiologists and their teams to advance DMI and disease surveillance, as well as their jurisdictions' public health capacity, by more effectively utilizing data, updating systems, and/or increasing efficiency and automation. Many of these stories also highlight initiatives in the CDC National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID) Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC) program to better monitor, prevent, and respond to infectious diseases and outbreaks. All these accomplishments are even more impressive and impactful considering that many were undertaken during the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic, while the U.S. public health infrastructure and workforce was stretched to the limit. The teams showcased in these stories overcame great adversity to innovate in ways that will reverberate nationwide and continue to improve public health in the face of future threats.
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Irene Halferty CHES, MSPH
Communication Specialist
National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO)
Washington DC
(202)800-3680
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