About CSTE

CSTE is a professional association of over 1050 public health epidemiologists working in states, local health agencies, and territories. CSTE works to establish more effective relationships among state and other health agencies. It also provides technical advice and assistance to partner organizations, such as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and to federal public health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). CSTE members have surveillance and epidemiology expertise in a broad range of areas including occupational health, infectious diseases, immunization, environmental health, chronic diseases, injury control, and maternal and child health. CSTE has a very diverse and inclusive membership.

In the 1950s, Alexander Langmuir, CDC’s first Epidemiology Division Director, recognized the importance of state input in decision making, and asked ASTHO to convene the state epidemiologists and charge them with the responsibility of deciding which diseases should be reported nationally. The first fully documented list of notifiable diseases was generated by this conference of state and territorial epidemiologists, which was held in 1951. CSTE has continued to hold the responsibility for defining and recommending which diseases and conditions are reportable within states and which of these diseases and conditions will be voluntarily reported to CDC.

In August 1992, CSTE opened its national headquarters office in Atlanta, Georgia, with two employees. The national office currently has 14 employees (including 7 trained in epidemiology and public health). CSTE is governed by a ten-member Executive Committee, which includes four officers and six members-at-large. Three of the members-at-large are epidemiologists who work and represent infectious diseases; maternal and child health and chronic diseases; and injury, environmental and occupational health. The CSTE Executive Committee conducts quarterly two-day meetings to provide a forum in which federal and state programs can collaborate on topics of mutual interest.

For more than five decades, CSTE and CDC have worked together in partnership to improve the public’s health by supporting the efforts of epidemiologists working at the state and local level and by promoting the effective use of epidemiologic data to guide public health practice and improve health. CSTE as an organization brings a unique perspective to the public health table through the following mechanisms:

• Policy – CSTE can call on epidemiologists employed at the state, local, and territorial levels to provide support, experience, and expertise for the review of new or established policies to guide applied public health, disease surveillance, epidemiology, and evaluation of public health programs through analysis of data.

• Partnership – CSTE represents epidemiology as a cross-cutting discipline among categorical issues in public health, which include vertical issues such as epidemiology, surveillance, training, capacity building, data collection and display, as well as horizontal issues such as chronic disease and maternal and child health conditions, infectious diseases, preparedness, and occupational and environmental public health.

• Preparation – CSTE continues to create opportunities to increase the capacity of public health agencies and competency of the public health workforce, particularly in applied public health epidemiology.

• Professionals – CSTE provides subject matter experts who are employed at the state, territorial, and local levels to meet with CDC leaders and leaders within individual program areas to strategize for success on topical issues, assessment, data analysis, survey design and execution, informatics, and interpretation of public health data.

• Public Information – CSTE continues to create a recognizable forum and network for epidemiologists and public health professionals to see guidance on policy, methods, interpretation of reports, professional development and other resources for use in their daily activities as applied public health epidemiologists.

• Public Health Research -- CSTE, through the expertise of its members collaborates with CDC and other stakeholders to improve public health practice through translational research by identifying training strategies for filling gaps and deficiencies among current public health epidemiologists. CSTE’s work is an important step in ensuring a well prepared and competent public health workforce.