Lessons Learned in Epidemiology and Surveillance Training in New York City

Infectious disease surveillance is a complex multidisciplinary endeavor. Public health organizations must ensure continued availability of appropriately trained professionals to maintain surveillance capacity. Field experience is an essential component of higher education in public health. The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), a leader in public health education, has four formal programs that offer field experience to future public health professionals. In addition, the DOHMH hosts trainees from national programs including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Epidemic Intelligence Service and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists' Applied Epidemiology Fellowship. The DOHMH has more than 50 years of experience training public health professionals and has expertise in ensuring the development of core public health competencies through a combination of work on public health projects and formal workshops and lectures. Trainees leave these programs well prepared to join the public health workforce.