ACE President-Elect

BACKGROUND: Dr. Acquavella completed his MS in Natural Sciences and his doctoral training in epidemiology at SUNY Buffalo’s Roswell Park Memorial Institute. He is an adjunct professor of Epidemiology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst School of Public Health and at the Arnold School of Public Health at the University of South Carolina. His research focus is occupational and environmental epidemiology.

Dr. Acquavella has served the College in many capacities. He was Secretary of ACE, an Executive Board member, and Chair of the Admissions Committee from 1996 through 2003. He also served on the Communications, Membership, and Education Committees. Currently, he is vice chair of the Annual Meeting Planning Committee and coordinator of pre-meeting educational workshops for the SER and ACE meetings.

STATEMENT: It is an honor to be nominated for president of ACE. I consider ACE to be the most important professional organization for epidemiologists because its primary mission is to advocate policies that advance the practice and stature of epidemiology. ACE is unique because epidemiologists from government, academia, and private industry work together on committees and on the Executive Board. As such, ACE represents the views of practicing epidemiologists of all affiliations. As someone with experience in government, academic research and the private sector, I appreciate the varied perspectives that members can bring to College activities.

While the President and the Board provide leadership and coordination, the real work of the College is done through the efforts of members on the various committees. ACE has become a leading voice working to preserve access for epidemiologists to individual-level identified data. This will continue to be an important focus for the Policy Committee, the President, and the Executive Board. ACE has also been a leading voice for the profession in ethics. I would encourage the Ethics and Standards of Practice Committee to expand their recent activities to provide guidance for epidemiologists on conflicts of interest. The other themes I would emphasize, if elected, are continuing education through an expanded menu of short courses at epidemiology society meetings and continued growth of the ACE membership. The College must continue to grow to be influential and to adequately represent an evolving profession. Under-representation of minority epidemiologists, students and early career epidemiologists needs to be remedied. I would also study the feasibility of developing a membership category for career masters degree level epidemiologists, who currently are excluded by the College by-laws. Lastly, I would seek to make the promotion process more transparent so that Members feel empowered to request promotion to Fellow at an appropriate stage in their careers. This is important for equity among College members, and, since being a Fellow is a prerequisite for many ACE leadership positions, it would expand the pool of future leaders of the College.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Foxman researches the molecular epidemiology of acute, recurring bacterial infections by integrating molecular, genetic, mathematical modeling, and epidemiologic methods. Dr. Foxman received her PhD in Epidemiology from UCLA, and consulted on the RAND Health Insurance Experiment while completing her dissertation. Following a post-doctoral fellowship in environmental epidemiology, she joined the faculty at the University of Michigan in 1987, where she been Professor since 1999. Dr. Foxman is the founder and current director of MAC-EPID, and directs an NIH-funded training program focused on interdisciplinary approaches to infectious diseases. Dr. Foxman is principal investigator of an NIH-funded study of Group B Streptococcus, and co-investigator of NIH-funded studies of E. coli, Haemaphilis influenzae, and tuberculosis. She has served as a member of the IOM Immunization Safety Committee, various NIH and CDC review committees, and on the editorial board of the American Journal of Epidemiology.
Dr. Foxman has been a member of the ACE Executive Board and Education Committee since 2001, and was previously a member of the ACE Doctoral Education Workshop Program Committee. She served previously as Chair of the APHA Epidemiology Section, and as a member of the 2001 Congress of Epidemiology Program Committee. She organized and currently chairs the Epidemiology Society Leadership Group, which includes representatives of 18 national and international epidemiologic societies. This group developed a directory of epidemiology societies, wrote a manuscript on the challenges and future of epidemiology (Annals of Epidemiology, in press), and is working together to develop the program for the 2006 Congress of Epidemiology, for which Dr. Foxman is Program Committee Chair.

STATEMENT: The rapid development of information technology, genetics and molecular biology has both energized and diversified epidemiology. These developments impact epidemiologic training and continuing education, epidemiologic practice, and the constituencies of professional organizations. One tangible impact of these developments is the proliferation of epidemiology societies. ACE took the lead in bridging epidemiology societies with the 2001 Congress; in 2006, a second Congress will take place. The Congress will provide an opportunity to showcase ACE’s strengths to the broader epidemiologic community, build coalitions between societies, and reach out to new and existing members. If elected, my presidency will overlap the Congress and be synergistic with my roles as Chair of the 2006 Congress Program Committee and the Epidemiology Leadership Group. The synergy will increase opportunities to build bridges between organizations that enhance the science and practice of epidemiology, and help begin identifying the challenges and opportunities these developments might provide for ACE’s future initiatives.
The future of epidemiology lies in attracting creative and energetic individuals; the future of ACE, and all societies, requires that these individuals be engaged. I will work to increase opportunities for all ACE members, including students, to participate in the ACE meeting and governance, facilitate opportunities for mentorship, and identify funds to enable students to attend the ACE annual meeting

BACKGROUND: Dr. Barfield received her B.S. in biology from the University of California, Irvine. She received her medical and public health degrees from Harvard University. She completed a pediatrics residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. and fellowship in neonatal-perinatal medicine at Harvard University. As an Army officer, she was Director of Neonatal Intensive Care at Madigan Army Medical Center. She is now a Commander in the U.S. Public Health Service. She is board-certified in both General Pediatrics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and remains a practicing neonatologist. Dr. Barfield has been part of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Reproductive Health since July 2000 when she joined the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS). After completing EIS in the Maternal and Infant Health Branch, Division of Reproductive Health, she moved to the Applied Sciences Branch to work with the Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS). Currently, she is assigned to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health through the CDC’s Maternal Child Health Epidemiology Field Assignee Program. Dr. Barfield has focused on racial disparities in perinatal outcomes and is currently improving assess to care and quality of reporting through the revision of state regulation on hospital maternal and newborn services. She is led epidemiologist in a multidisciplinary collaborative to use health information technology to improve the quality of care to high-risk newborns born in Massachusetts. Using longitudinally linked data, she is improving the surveillance of maternal and neonatal morbidity. She also has an interest in stillbirths; an area often under-examined in U.S. pregnancy outcome measures.

STATEMENT: Effective implementation of epidemiologic research requires multidisciplinary collaboration. As an epidemiologist and a clinician, I struggle to bridge the gap between rigorous analysis, relevant recommendations, and sound application. The American College of Epidemiology can create strong bridges between many disciplines: basic scientists, sociologists, clinicians, policy makers, and consumers. As a young investigator, I would also like to assist ACE in the development of new epidemiologists, particularly in the area of maternal and child health. The field of MCH Epidemiology has struggled with defining itself and recruiting new researchers. The American College of Epidemiology has an important role in defining this area as well as other emerging issues such as emergency/ bioterrorism surveillance, particularly among special populations. I would like to serve and assist ACE in addressing these issues.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Correa received a B.S. degree in chemistry from San Diego State University, an M.S. in chemistry and an M.D. from the University of California San Diego, and an MPH and a PhD from the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. He also trained in Pediatrics at the University of California San Francisco and San Francisco General Hospital, CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, and General Preventive Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Before joining the Centers for Disease Control in 1998, he was on the faculty of the Department of Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health. Adolfo’s research interests have included parental occupational and environmental exposures and birth defects and other pregnancy outcomes. He is currently engaged in several studies of birth defects, including surveillance, risk and prevention factors, and mortality. Adolfo was a senior advisor to the President’s Task Force on Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks to Children, a chair of the Population Sciences work group of the Task Force on The Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Children of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH, and a member of the Department of Veterans Affairs Advisory Committee on Former Prisoners of War. He is a member of the Interagency Coordinating Committee of the National Children’s Study.

STATEMENT: If elected, I would promote the professional development of epidemiologists through workshops at the annual meeting and interdisciplinary symposia in conjunction with other professional societies within a translation or policy framework. In addition, I would work to develop and maintain a wide and vital membership base by pursuing collaborative activities with other epidemiologic societies and professional groups that include opportunities for new members and trainees to present and discuss their work.


H. IRENE HALL, PHD, MPH, is a Senior Epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention, Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, and Associate Editor of the Annals of Epidemiology.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Hall has served on the ACE Publications Committee since 2000, served as Chair of the abstract review committee in 2002 and 2003, and serves as Chair of the poster committee in 2004.

Dr. Hall received her B.S. from Boston University and earned her master’s and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from the Yale University School of Public Health. She joined the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry in 1991, where she conducted studies related to hazardous substances released into the environment and surveillance on the health effects related to acute hazardous substance releases. In 1995, Dr. Hall joined CDC’s Division of Cancer Prevention and Control in the Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion and was appointed Chief of the Surveillance Research Section in the Cancer Surveillance Branch in 1998. Her research focused on methods used by children and adults to protect from sun exposure, self-reported cancer screening and the validity of recall of screening, the burden of cancer in special populations, patterns of cancer care, and the quality of surveillance data. She is an expert in surveillance methods and administered CDC’s research program for the National Program of Cancer Registries. In 2002, she was invited to join CDC’s HIV Incidence and Case Surveillance Branch, where she introduced new statistical methods to describe the HIV epidemic. Her current research interests include the social determinants of HIV infection.

Dr. Hall has served on various advisory committees for the DOT, NCI, FDA, American Cancer Society, and North American Association of Central Cancer Registries, as well as review committees for the NCI, VA, and Health Canada. She has also served as consultant to WHO for polio eradication.

STATEMENT: I have worked for several years now with members of the College who are very committed to enhancing the impact of the organization through policy formulation and publication of issues affecting epidemiologists as well as good science. However, we need to engage more members who can promote the collective goals and open opportunities for new members to act as ambassadors for the profession. ACE is unique in promoting the profession by considering ethics, standards, continuing education, and the interests of epidemiologists, but we should also seek to enhance our collaboration with other epidemiologic and professional organizations to enhance these goals. One important issue is to continue to monitor and preserve the ability to conduct research while promoting the role epidemiology has played in improving the health of the population. Just as important is to ensure the preparation of professionals to be able to respond to new challenges and recruit trainees to fill the void experienced in many public health settings. The College should also seek opportunities to broaden the impact of the Annals, including publications related to the practice of our profession.

JORGE IBARRA, M.D., M.P.H., is a County Epidemiologist in Tucson, Arizona. He is also Co-Director of Mesa Public Health Associates, a consulting firm in the US-Mexico border region. As a member of the American College of Epidemiology he has served on the Minority Affairs Committee. He is a partner in the CityMatCH perinatal periods of risk multi-city project. He also serves as a member of the board of directors of two international non-governmental organizations.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Ibarra has a long term interest in child survival issues, the application of epidemiological methods, asthma in children, and the management of communicable diseases and health surveillance systems. He was a pioneer in the establishment of the Mexican Institute of Public Health in Cuernavaca, serving along side numerous key Mexican leaders in public health. During that time he taught social medicine and basic epidemiology at the School of Medicine in Mexico City. Later, he joined the University of Arizona where he served in different capacities including assisting and conducting research on asthma in children at the USA-Mexico Border.

In his current position he has had the opportunity to study infectious disease outbreaks of different magnitudes and assess surveillance systems for various public health purposes. Currently, Dr. Ibarra is part of a multi-city CityMatCH team (University of Nebraska) for the study of health disparities through the assessment of perinatal periods of risk. He also participates in several local and state committees working on the identification of health needs for maternal and child issues as well as obesity prevention policy.

Dr. Ibarra earned a medical degree from the University of Mexico, a master in public health at the University of Arizona and has extensive course work on community medicine from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and in epidemiology from Boston University.

STATEMENT: If elected for a Board of Director position, I will be honored to serve the College promoting the improved linkages between applied epidemiology and research. In particular, I will work to promote ACE’s use of its influence to advocate for frontline epidemiologists in the nation. I will encourage a comprehensive, accessible, in-service training policy to benefit acting epidemiologists at the state and local levels. I also believe in the potential for increasing the rationale use of existing data to better conduct epidemiological studies to improve research overall and positively increase the timely impact of that research in the communities providing needed data. As a part of this, much can be done by ACE to promote these concepts in schools and colleges of medicine and public health, in coordination with epidemiology units at the state and local levels. Another approach to improving frontline linkages is the fair distribution of funding to support the practicing epidemiologists serving in the frontlines of public health. I believe the ACE should use its influence in collaboration with community members and key leaders to help establish criteria and policy agendas to promote this wider distribution of needed resources.

BACKGROUND: Dr. McKeown has been a member of the ACE Ethics and Standards of Practice Committee since 1997 and chair since 2001. He is leading the consultation team for the first ethics consultation by ACE. In addition to an undergraduate degree in chemistry, he holds the PhD in philosophical theology from Duke University and PhD in epidemiology from the University of South Carolina. Dr. McKeown is immediate past-chair of the Epidemiology Section of the American Public Health Association, has chaired at various times that Section’s Program, Awards, and Nominations Committees, and has served on the Governing Council. He is currently on the Program Committee for the upcoming Second North American Congress of Epidemiology in 2006. He is also a member of the Society for Epidemiologic Research. Dr. McKeown’s research interests are psychiatric epidemiology, with a focus on children and adolescents, perinatal epidemiology, women’s health, and public health ethics. Current projects include NIH-funded research on depression and diabetes in youth, a CDC-funded project on ADHD in young children, a Duke Endowment-funded intervention to enhance well-being in multi-ethnic groups of older adult in faith communities, an emerging coalition to develop interventions to prevent recurrent preterm births, and several public health ethics projects. His teaching has focused on epidemiologic methods, ethics, and psychiatric epidemiology. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Teaching Award, Faculty Service Award, and Distinguished Alumnus Award for the School of Public Health.

STATEMENT: Two things stand out for me as defining elements in ACE’s mission: commitment to the profession of epidemiology, including support for epidemiologists and their professional development, and commitment to uniting sound epidemiologic research with policy and practice. Though ours is not the largest epidemiologic society, it has been influential in both these arenas and has been a leader on matters of policy and in providing workshops on emerging methods and challenges for our own meetings, and for other professional societies as well. Our leadership in the First North American Congress of Epidemiology and in the planning for the second Congress in 2006, as well as recent policy statements and actions reflect both of those ongoing commitments. As a Board member I would work to continue and strengthen that tradition. A part of the genius of epidemiology is its breadth and ability to join forces with other disciplines to address a vast array of health related issues. The resources and programs we provide must continue to be broad and flexible in order to attract the diverse membership we need to maintain. As a Board member, I would work to provide more resources that are useful to members and to students and others interested in our field. Epidemiology in the 21st century will no doubt look very different from epidemiology in the 19th or 20th centuries. ACE is well-positioned to assist us in making the transitions.

ROBERTA B. NESS, MD, MPH, is Chair, Department of Epidemiology, and Professor of Epidemiology, Medicine, and Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Pittsburgh. She is a member of the ACE Policy Committee and will Chair the Policy Committee starting in 2005.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Ness is an expert in women’s health and longstanding Director of the Women’s Health Program, University of Pittsburgh. Her research has focused on the etiology of adverse reproductive outcomes and the relationship between reproductive events and later chronic disease. Some of the over twenty federally funded projects she has directed include studies of the relationship between reproductive and gynecologic experiences and cancer outcomes; the role pre-pregnancy cardiovascular risk plays in causing preeclampsia, and the consequences of sexually transmitted diseases. Dr. Ness edited one of the first epidemiologic texts devoted to women’s health, Health and Disease among Women and was a section editor for the award-winning text, Women and Health. She received her MD from Cornell University and her MPH from Columbia, and is board-certified in internal medicine. Her contributions to science have been recognized by elected membership in the prestigious American Society for Clinical Investigation and American Epidemiologic Society. She serves as a standing member of the NIH review group ECD-1 and an editor of Sexually Transmitted Disease Reviews for the World Health Organization. She has served on advisory committees for NICHD, NIAID, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Centers for Disease Control, and Department of Defense.

STATEMENT: ACE has worked hard to advocate for policies helpful to promoting the science of epidemiology. Furthermore, its annual meetings have spotlighted advances in the field. These are areas wherein, if elected, I would work to make the College stronger and more proactive. For example, if elected, I would work with the Board to modify federal human subject policies such as HIPAA that threaten population-based research. I would help the Board develop a consortium of scientists and organizations concerned about obstacles to clinical research. The consortium might mount a public education campaign on the benefits but also the costs of confidentiality. I would also continue work I have started in collaboration with the Annals of Epidemiology to strengthen the policy voice of that Journal. A goal would be to raise media awareness of the views of epidemiologists through the venue of the Annals. Finally, I would help the College position itself to take a lead role in the NIH Roadmap Initiative. To date, the Roadmap has focused on basic science and the College should advocate for incorporation of epidemiology into all aspects of this program. At the annual meetings, I would urge discussions of cutting-edge strategies for incorporating and analyzing multiple levels of data in epidemiologic research. This might involve discussions of topics such as systems biology, multilevel data analysis, data mining, laboratory and database search methods in genomics and proteomics, and pharmacogenomics, among others.

DENISE M. OLESKE, PhD, is Professor, Departments of Health Systems Management and Preventive Medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. In the Department of Health Systems Management, she is also Associate Chair and Program Director for the Master’s and Doctoral programs, the latter of which has recently been funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Oleske, an ACE Fellow has served in a variety of capacities including the Program Planning Committee for the 2003 meeting, on poster committees for several years, and the Publications Committee. She has served on the Finance Committee as a member, Vice-Chair and currently is Chair. As Chair of the Finance Committee, she is leading in the development of policies and procedures to support the sound fiscal growth of ACE.

Dr. Oleske earned a B.S. in biology (1971) at Marquette University followed by degrees from the University of Illinois including a BSN (1974), an MPH (1974), a PhD (1983) in epidemiology, the latter two which were from the School of Public Health.

She has broad experience with teaching epidemiology to a wide variety of health care professionals including, nursing, allied health and medicine.

As an early leader in the 80’s in the application of epidemiology in the benchmarking and evaluation of the quality of health care services through the use of administrative databases, her research was supported by various organizations including from the Health Care Financing Administration (now the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services). Dr. Oleske has served on various grant review committees for the NCI and AHRQ.

Dr. Oleske has a substantial highly regarded track record in occupational health epidemiology and breast cancer research. Dr. Oleske’s current research focuses on examining the role of new prognostic factors for recurrence of breast cancer (genetic markers) and work-related low back disorders (trunk motion patterns and ergonomic exposures).

Her board experience includes serving as a member of the Institutional Review Board of the Foundation for Human Reproduction and serves as a member of the Governing Council of Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge Illinois, nationally recognized for six consecutive years in the US News and World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals’ ranking.”

STATEMENT: Epidemiology has not only given me the tools to engage in scientific evaluations of the operations of the health care system, but it is also language I use to bring multi-disciplinary and even transdisciplinary groups together to problem-solve for improving health care. It is exciting to be associated with professional organization such as the American College of Epidemiology that embraces this philosophy. If I am elected, I plan to continue to promote the acceptance of epidemiological practice more broadly in areas such as risk assessment, outcomes research, population based-self management strategies, and the evaluation of the impact of system changes in a wide variety of populations including community-dwelling, insured, non-insured, and special populations. The collegiality of the traditional-oriented epidemiologists alongside new practitioners will help not only to promote our membership base, but the increased diversity will help us build a better vision of the future strategic position of the College. With this diverse base, the College will be in a better position to favorably influence policy-making, legislation, and the legal arena for the sensible use of data for epidemiological research, a major potential future barrier to our profession. I would be honored to serve and if elected, I look forward to being responsive to the membership’s interests.

CHERYL BLACKMORE PRINCE, PH.D, MPH, MS is the State Maternal and Child Health Epidemiologist at the Hawai`i Department of Health.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Prince has been employed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) since 1980. She began her career as a Public Health Nurse after graduating from the State University of New York at Buffalo with a BSN. She also has an MS in nursing from the University of Colorado Medical Center, an MPH in epidemiology from Emory University, and a PhD in epidemiology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She began her epidemiology training in 1981 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer at CDC. She worked as an Epidemiologist in the Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities and in the Division of Reproductive Health prior to beginning her current field assignment in 1996 in Hawai`i. Dr. Prince is a Commissioned Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. She has served as a World Health Organization Temporary Advisor to the People’s Republic of China on two occasions to assist with efforts toward polio eradication. She was Chair of the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association, is Treasurer of the Society for Analysis of African-American Public Health Issues, and has been a peer reviewer for several scientific journals. Currently her research interests involve ethnic disparities in maternal and child health.

STATEMENT: The American College of Epidemiology is a strong organization whose positions are valued because they are scientifically based and not merely reflective of public opinion. As an epidemiologist whose entire career has been spent working on public health problems, I believe my views would be an asset to the organization. The health of our nation is constantly being challenged and new perspectives are needed. As our country continues to grow more ethnically diverse epidemiologists should encourage a better cultural understanding of both the traditional risk factors for disease and also protective factors that promote health. Prevention must remain a cornerstone to protecting the health of the nation. As we move forward in the twenty-first century we must communicate the value of the prevention component in public health to the people in our communities. Communities should have a voice in health promotion and disease prevention activities. We cannot be successful at changing behaviors unless we understand the basis for those behaviors. It is no longer acceptable to impose other’s values and standards on communities without involving them in planning the research and intervention. We need the wisdom and sensitivity to know what will work, with whom, and under what circumstances. Community and scientific expertise are equally important in this process. This partnership increases resources, power, confidence, and the sense of accomplishment. It is an honor to have been nominated to serve on the Executive Board of the American College of Epidemiology. I have over 20 years of experience working as an epidemiologist and it is this commitment to the field that I would bring with me if I were elected.

ROBERT SPIRTAS, M.S., DR.P.H. is Chief of the Contraception and Reproductive Health Branch, Center for Population Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), NIH, DHHS, Bethesda, MD.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Spirtas received a B.A. in Actuarial Science from the University of Illinois, an M.S. in Statistics from the University of Iowa, and a Dr.P.H. in Biostatistics with a Supporting Program in Epidemiology and Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He has served as a statistician with the National Air Pollution Control Administration (a predecessor to the Environmental Protection Agency), a Research Associate with the Occupational Health Studies Group at the University of North Carolina, Chief of the Illness Effects Section, Division of Surveillance, Hazard Evaluations, and Field Studies at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and a biostatistician in the Environmental Epidemiology Branch of the National Cancer Institute. In his current assignment at NICHD, he is responsible for directing a program supporting research on the discovery, development, efficacy, safety and mechanisms of action of various methods of contraception, as well as on reproductive health and epidemiology. His responsibilities include consultation and collaboration with other governmental agencies, including FDA, CDC, and USAID, and frequent interactions with non-governmental organizations. In addition to service on various NIH committees, he has prepared and given congressional testimony. Dr. Spirtas is a coordinating agency scientist on various World Health Organization committees dealing with contraception and reproductive health. He has served as a Commissioned Officer in the United States Public Health Service. He has been an officer in the Statistics Section of APHA, and was a member of the National Death Index Advisory Committee. His research interests are in the fields of environmental health and reproductive health. His most recent project was the NICHD Women’s Contraception and Reproductive Experiences study (a multi-center, population-based, case-control study which examined the relationship between the risk of breast cancer and the use of oral contraceptives among women aged 35-64 years). He is a Fellow of the ACE, and a member of the American Public Health Association, the Society for Epidemiologic Research, the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (he currently serves as an epidemiologist on the Threshold Limit Values Committee of the ACGIH), and the Commissioned Officers Association of the U.S. Public Health Service. Dr. Spirtas has received the Statistics Section, APHA Award, the NIH Directors Award, and the Charles C. Shepard Science Award.

STATEMENT: In my opinion, the major public health problems facing us are: obesity and its consequences, terrorism (bio-, nuclear, and chemical), HIV/AIDS and other new and old infectious agents (TB, malaria), the health effects of tobacco products, and population-environment interactions (global warming, unintended pregnancy). It is imperative that we view these problems as global issues in this interconnected age. The College has shown leadership in addressing these issues and has been an effective voice in addressing important societal concerns. With my scientific background in environmental and reproductive health and experience with national and international organizations, I feel that I could contribute to this activity. If elected, I would strive to increase the efforts of the College to inform the public regarding important public health issues. My general approach is to work persistently within the system to get the job done. It would be a great honor to serve on the Board.

EDWARD TRAPIDO, SC.D. is Associate Director of the Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program, in the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, at the National Cancer Institute.

BACKGROUND: Dr. Trapido earned an M.S.P.H. in parasitology from UNC Chapel Hill(1974), and holds Sc.M. and Sc.D. degrees from Harvard (1981).

Dr. Trapido formerly was Professor and Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Miami School of Medicine and directed the M.P.H. and Ph.D. programs. He also was Associate Director for Cancer Prevention and Control at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. As a PI, he directed several major cancer control research and education programs at the University of Miami, including the Cancer Information Service covering Florida, Puerto Rico, and the USVI, the Florida Cancer Data System, the Florida Comprehensive Cancer Control Initiative, the Early Breast Cancer Detection Program, and Redes En Acción, which focuses on Hispanic cancer prevention and control. He also was Director of the Tobacco Research and Evaluation Coordinating Center and was a consultant to the Florida and Minnesota Tobacco Programs, which have received nationwide acclaim for reducing teenage smoking. Apart from cancer, Dr. Trapido has also worked in research and interventions on HIV, substance abuse, and aging.

Dr. Trapido’s program at the NCI manages a comprehensive program of grant-supported, population-based research intended to increase the understanding of cancer etiology and prevention. 400 research grants and cooperative agreements (totaling $200 million) are supported. His program oversees research in gene discovery, gene-gene and gene-environment interactions, environmental epidemiology, including tobacco, occupational exposures, energy balance, hormones and medications, infectious diseases; and clinical epidemiology, including health disparities, and survivorship. He also is a member of the DCCPS Health Disparities Research Committee, the Trans-NIH Tobacco Research Group, the U.S.-Japanese Cancer Consortium, and the World Trade Center Late Emergent Diseases Working Group.

For the past two years, Dr. Trapido has been involved with the planning of the ACE annual meeting, and has further committed his Program to provide ongoing financial support.

STATEMENT: Having spent time working both in academia (teaching/mentoring, hunting for grants, and developing community programs) and in Federal and State government (priority setting, working with policy issues, and awarding/managing grants), Dr. Trapido believes that ACE can move the field of epidemiology forward on several fronts. The first is in research, specifically to foster discussion/development of translational investigations which span the gap from traditional epidemiology to bench and “trench.” Related to this, ACE should encourage the testing and integration of new technologies into epidemiologic studies. The second deals with addressing current problems in conducting and interpreting epidemiologic research. Through development/strengthening of partnerships, fostering consortia, meetings of committees and members, the web site, and publications, ACE can address issues such as data sharing, bioinformatics, measurement concerns, conducting “big science” etc.. The third relates to ACE making a renewed commitment to foster the training and mentoring of individuals who are from under-represented populations.