Today’s NPHW 2024 theme, “New Tools and Innovations,” is a great opportunity to highlight CSTE’s Data Science Team Training (DSTT) program. Check out a Q&A with two DSTT program participants below!

CSTE's Data Science Team Training (DSTT) program is a team-based, on-the job training program to promote data science upskilling. Learners in the 12-month program work collaboratively on a project that addresses a current agency need related to data modernization.

To get more insight on DSTT and its approach, we spoke with two individuals currently in the program.

First up is Lori Saathoff-Huber, epidemiologist at the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH). She supports the communicable disease program with surveillance, outbreak and data analytics projects.

Q: How did you first become interested in Epidemiology and Public Health?

A: I felt like it was a perfect fit for me. There is the mathematics and statistics aspect of it, certainly the science with the health part of it, but I also realized that there was a lot of problem solving in it.

I feel like that's what we do in public health. We're problem solvers. We identify where and why disease is occurring and then work to stop and prevent. I also wanted a career that was contributing to society and to the public, and I felt like I could do some good in this field.

Q: Tell me a little about your career (so far).

A: I’ve been with the Illinois Department of Public Health for 20 years within the infectious disease division. I've worked as a foodborne outbreak coordinator and as a vaccine preventable disease coordinator. Now I am a general epidemiologist where I really assist wherever's needed.

Q: How did you learn about the DSTT program?

A: We received an email through CSTE about the DSTT project. We realize the importance of sharing our data further, providing more data to our public health partners, like our local health departments, but as well as with the public. Because one part of epidemiology is not just finding the outbreaks and solving them, but also providing that information to the public so they can be informed and protect themselves from disease.

We felt like the DSTT project would really give us an opportunity to focus on that and obtain some skills in new applications.

Q: Describe the “new tools and innovations” that DSTT helped with your goal of increased data sharing.

A: We first focused on our foodborne diseases and developing dashboards in an application called Tableau. We were able to put together a couple of different ones that we hope to use for, like I said, for our local health departments, but also then for the public.

DSTT was great because it gave us training that we wanted to have for some time on that application that I mentioned, Tableau. And so our team was able to go to two days of in-person training. And we also did various trainings through the DSTT project on other application and other topics. There was such a wide range of training that was available, which was great.

Q: Has there been one moment or story you could share that has shown the impact of these tools already?

A: We recently had a measles outbreak, and so we used Tableau for that to analyze our data, visualize it, and share it and tell the story of what was happening with that outbreak. So, I think it started by having this one project that we were working towards, but then the skills that we learned will continue in different ways.

Next let’s hear from Deen Gu, epidemiologist at the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.

Q: How did you first become interested in Epidemiology and Public Health?

A: I went to Northwestern University and studied economics. I graduated in 2009 [during the height of the recession] so the only thing I could find was something overseas in global health, and I thought, “I'll try it for a year or two."

And I loved it. Such a life-changing moment to go overseas. I spent five years in Cambodia, Vietnam doing public health. I worked on a health-strengthening systems program and an HIV program.

Q: Tell me a little about your career (so far).

A: After my overseas experience, I worked in a hospital doing adverse event surveillance. When COVID happened, it immediately reignited my interest in public health and specifically in epidemiology. I took a certificate program with UNC and then joined the state [health department] and now do syndromic surveillance.

Q: How did you learn about the DSTT program?

A: My coworker told me about it. I remember thinking, “This is a perfect opportunity for us to work on something really cool and get some great training."

Q: Describe the need your health department identified to work on for the DSTT program.

A: We did geospatial analysis, and so, at a very basic level, it's just putting rates on maps. In some ways, we all have so much data in front of us, but when it came to rates on a map and how it changes over time and by different subgroups and populations and even subspecies for like salmonella, I felt our state didn't really do that.

We were able to do advanced statistics and 3D models. When you do it visually, everybody just sort of gets interested. Even though they might not do anything with it, they're like, "Oh, cool, it's a map. I want to see it."

We did it specifically on gastrointestinal illness, so norovirus, salmonella, E. coli, those diseases.

Q: What were your main takeaways from your time in the DSTT program?

A: I was just impressed that we hopefully will fix an actual problem from this project. Let's say we do have rates of salmonella that are different. What could we do? I think we're envisioning reaching out to the local health departments and having a conversation. We want to start understanding. The public health impact is more long-term, but DSTT helped start it.

Now it’s your turn! Help increase the data science capacity of the Public Health workforce. Learn more about CSTE’s DSTT program here. Note: These interviews were edited for length and clarity.