Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus1

health department have no formal academic training in that discipline. States reported that approximately 48% of epidemiologists work in infectious diseases (a figure that is close to optimal), but that the rest of the public health disciplines, such as chronic disease, maternal child health, occupational health, oral health, bioterrorism/emergency preparedness, injury, and environmental health, are far below optimal capacity; further, >60% of states epidemiologic funding support comes from federal sources. Most states reported having an insufficient number of epidemiology staff and resources to carry out essential public health services. In response to the training needs identified by this assessment, CSTE, CDC, and Association of Schools of Public Health developed a 2-year applied epidemiology training fellowship that places trainees in state health departments. CSTE hosted the first national epidemiology workforce summit in January 2004 to identify strategies for building epidemiologic capacity in the U.S. public health system. Infectious disease testing is one of the core capacities of public health laboratories. Such laboratories play a key role in supporting outbreak investigation and surveillance activities. Public health laboratory staff must meet unique requirements and posses technical skills that require a long learning curve. Staff also need to have the knowledge of public health principals and relevance of their work to public health activities. Special recruitment and retention issues are challenging the public health laboratory workforce, including increasing vacancy rates and an increasing demand for skilled workers in light of the Select Agent Rule. At the same time, technology is changing rapidly, with new tests emerging almost daily. Solutions offered were salary parity with the private sector, innovative training, creation of interest in laboratory sciences, and continuing education. The National Laboratory Training Network has helped by offering courses, and Emerging Infectious Diseases fellowships are also attracting new workers. In 2000, Association of Public Health Laboratories survey of state laboratory directors led to the "Green Book," which forecasts impending vacancies up to 40% in certain public health laboratory areas. This finding led to the development of the Center for Public Health Laboratory Leadership, which offers corrective courses and ventures. Rubina Imtiaz* and Gail Cassell†