Issue 27 - Upcoming Conferences in 2004 Highlight Syndromic Surveillance and Bioterrorism

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Upcoming Conferences in 2004 Highlight Syndromic Surveillance and Bioterrorism
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During the last few months of 2004, four conferences in the U.S. will address syndromic surveillance, early event detection, bioterrorism, and/or uses of emergency room data. Persons interested in learning more about these subjects may want to attend one of these conferences. If you cannot attend, some of these organizations provide online access to their presentations after the conference concludes.

The conference dedicated to these subjects is the 3rd Annual 2004 Syndromic Surveillance conference in Boston, November 3-4th. Chaired and organized by syndromic surveillance notables Dr. Julie Pavlin and Dr. Farzad Mostashari, this conference will concentrate on many of the prevailing issues in syndromic surveillance today, including: "dual-use" and "multiple-use" systems; data needs of local, state, and federal health agencies; syndrome definition and classification; how to investigate alarms; obstacles to data sharing and privacy; and other topics. Access more information at http://www.syndromic.org. Early bird online registration ends October 1st. (1)

A few days later, the American Public Health Association 132nd Annual conference "Public Health and the Environment" will be held November 6-10th in Washington D.C. This huge conference (expected attendance 13,000) promises over 4,000 scientific papers. Topics include: syndromic surveillance in rural health systems; practical applications of syndromic surveillance - dual use; syndromic surveillance as a tool for early detection of carbon monoxide poisoning; and others. Information and online registration can be found at http://www.apha.org/meetings (2)

The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) Annual Meeting is September 28 - October 1 in St. Paul, MN. This joint meeting includes the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL). Including in their interesting sessions: NCEH Lab update - chemical terrorism and bio-monitoring; partnerships between public and private health efforts to control infectious diseases; state agencies preparedness to address biological, chemical or radiologic public health emergencies; and more. Online registration is closed, but you can register in person beginning Sept 28th See http://www.astho.org/index.php?template=annual_meeting.html
for more information. (3)

The year concludes with the National Association of Health Data Organizations (NAHDO) 19th annual meeting in Washington DC, December 6-7th. Their theme, "Navigating to Survive and Thrive The Perfect Storm" must certainly be the prevailing thought of many healthcare organizations confronted with escalating costs, declining budgets and an aging population. Included on their agenda are the topics: disease and safety surveillance; and emergency department data for public health and beyond. The conference brochure is located at http://www.nahdo.org/meetings/19meeting/brochure2004.pdf.

(1) www.syndromic.org

(2) www.apha.org

(3) www.astho.org

(4) www.nahdo.org

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