A Millennial's Take on CDC's Environmental Public Health Tracking Network.

ifteen years ago, the Pew Environ­ mental Health Commission detailed in a report the lack of basic informa­ tion available to document linkages between environmental exposures and the health of the public. The commission found that there was “no cohesive national strategy to iden­ tify environmental hazards, measure popula­ tion exposures, and track health conditions that may be related to the environment (Pew Environmental Health Commission, 2000).” This report served as the impetus for the creation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Environmental Public Health Tracking Program (Tracking Program). Before the Tracking Program was funded in 2002, no integrated systems ex­ isted at the national or state level that tracked exposures to environmental hazards and po­ tential health effects. In 2002, the Massachu­ setts Department of Public Health was one of the first state health departments to receive CDC funding for local tracking projects. At this time, I was a preteen in Massachusetts, also connecting the pieces to a bigger picture; but in my case this meant playing Tetris on my handheld Game Boy. In 2009, the National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network (Tracking Network) launched, becoming the first-of­ its-kind surveillance system to provide envi­ ronmental data and public health data in a one-stop shop (Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, 2010). Just as the Track­ ing Network was maturing and developing into the surveillance system it is now, mil­ lennials were being shaped by connectivity and technical advances. Millennials have had access to information at our fingertips since elementary school through the use of com­ puters and smartphones. Today, as a user of the Tracking Network, I can attest to its userfriendly functionality and wealth of data. With just a few strokes on the keyboard, data on environmental hazards and exposures and data on diseases can be pulled up quickly. This system provides interactive and custom­ izable tools to make sense of the data. The younger generation is adept at navigating new platforms and technologies; our brains are trained to adapt to new informationprocessing skills. We are the first generation to have had access to the Internet during our formative years, which molded the way in which we interact with technology. We also care deeply about the environment, our health, and social determinants of health. The Tracking Network is not only designed in a way that is appealing to millennials like me, but the content it houses is equally as important to my generation.