URISA’s 2009 GIS in Public Health Conference news

14 May 2009, 3:01pm

Park Ridge, IL (May 14, 2009) URISA’s 2009 GIS in Public Health Conference (June 5-8 in Providence, Rhode Island) will offer important topics addressed by leaders in the field. URISA is offering multiple registration options to fit attendees’ time and budget limitations. Individuals may register for the full conference, a one-day registration, or even register only for one of the preconference workshops. Early registration discounts for the full conference are only valid through May 15, however.

Themed “Putting Health in Place with GIS”, the conference features full-day workshops, sixty-four presentations, exhibits, a poster session and networking events. The opening keynote address will be delivered by Corrie Brown, DVM, PhD, Coordinator of International Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia and the closing keynote address will be presented by Leslie Lenert, MD, MS, FACMI, Director of the National Center for Public Health Informatics at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Four important pre-conference workshops will be presented on Friday, June 5 (go online for detailed descriptions and presenter information at the link below).

1. Space-Time Analysis of Health Data
2. Using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) for Field Data Collection to Support Field Epidemiology, Emergency Preparedness, Environmental Health, and Other Public Health Programs
3. Protecting Privacy and Confidentiality of Geographic Data in Health Research
4. Ecological Niche Modeling for Predicting Disease Distributions: Designing Experiments and Interpreting Results

Following are just a few of the sessions that are highlighted in this year's educational offerings:

Pandemic/Avian Flu: Emergency planners and healthcare providers at all levels should be involved in the preparation for and response to a possible outbreak of a deadly contagion. This session will inform participants of some of the spatial challenges and solutions relevant to pandemic influenza including the recent H1N1 (swine flu) outbreak.

Health Disparities and Social Factors in Health: This session addresses concepts and methods for investigating social factors in health and associated health disparities.

Public Health Epidemiology: Epidemiology has long been associated with geospatial and temporal factors. This session will inform participants on several relevant investigations.

Cancer Geographics: GIS has been gaining much greater core importance in cancer epidemiology and related areas. Organizations like North American Association of Central Cancer Registries and the CDC cancer programs, as well as state cancer registries are formally adopting GIS as an important tool. Standards have been developed for capturing cancer patient data so that address geocoding produces a high hit rate enabling spatial epidemiology to more accurate, comprehensive and relevant. Papers in this session provide a look at how widely Cancer GIS is being pursued.

Environmental Public Health Tracking Network and Standards: The Environmental Public Health Tracking Network integrates hazard monitoring, exposure, and health effects surveillance. Papers in this session provide an introduction to the network and to network standards.

Complete conference details including individual paper and presenter information is available online at the link below.

URISA 2009 GIS in Public Health Conference

Geo: International