The recent publication “Examining state health agency Epidemiologists and their training needs” describes the applied epidemiology workforce as highly educated, with gaps in relevant skills requiring development.1 These gaps are not in traditional epidemiology “shoe leather,” but in the cross cutting skills of collaboration, change management, and communication. Similar to other assessments of the public health workforce, workers self-report a need for more training in these non-technical skills. As we enter into the era of “Public Health 3.0”—a major upgrade in public health practice to emphasize cross-sectoral policy to address social determinates of health—it will be necessary for epidemiologists to work beyond their silos to successfully implement surveillance and informatics initiatives.

The Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) recognizes this need for training in cross cutting skills and is changing the accreditation criteria of schools and programs of public health.2 These changes aim to shift the delivery of the Master of Public Health (MPH) curriculum from the traditional five areas of public health to foundational knowledge and competencies as well as applied learning experiences beyond the traditional practicum. The 22 MPH competencies are arranged across eight domains: evidence-based approaches to public health, public health and health care systems, planning and management to promote health, policy in public health, leadership, communication, interprofessional practice, and systems thinking.

The change in accreditation criteria will eventually have a downstream effect in preparing the public health workforce, but training in cross cutting skills for the current workforce is needed now. The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) aims to provide epidemiologists a forum for discussion, resources, and training for cross cutting skills. One example is the recently developed toolkit of resources to promote scientific writing among applied epidemiologists. Since June 2016, CSTE has identified new leadership for the Epi Methods Subcommittee, reinvigorated the Workforce Subcommittee and added a co-chair, and has initiated an Early Career Professionals Workgroup. While other subcommittees and workgroups are topical in nature, the Epi Methods and Workforce Subcommittees’ activities strive to promote a trained and qualified workforce on cross cutting skills.

CSTE will continue to support activities to foster a prepared workforce. The Epi Methods Subcommittee Chairs, Diana Cervantes of the Texas State Department of Health and Talia Brown of Boulder County Public Health, have led the group to develop a strategic plan for 2016-2017 with two major priority areas: 1) Enhancing awareness and promoting best practices in applied epidemiology methods and 2) Working to build and maintain capacity for the application of epidemiologic methods. The Workforce Subcommittee will also develop a strategic plan to be presented at the 2017 CSTE Annual Conference.

CSTE remains committed to equipping epidemiologists with the diverse skills they need—technical and otherwise—to succeed in an evolving public health landscape. You can help us by joining the Workforce and/or Epi Methods Subcommittees to support our workforce development initiatives.