Public Health Track

Develop a strong working knowledge of public health practice, governmental public health and the public health system.

Scholarly Track Requirements

All residents will participate in a one hour monthly meeting during Grand Rounds time for their specific track which may include applicable reading with discussion, didactics or evaluation of their progress.

Goal

To develop a strong working knowledge of public health practice, governmental public health and the public health system especially as they relate to the practice of emergency medicine.

General Requirements

  1. Minimum of 100 hours during the residency program.
    • Failure of the resident to demonstrate steady progress without an acceptable reason may result in additional hours assigned.
    • The resident must complete at least 10 hours of interactive time* in each of the following subspecialty areas:
      • Environmental Health
      • Disease Control
      • Community Wellness
      • Specialty Clinical Services
      • Public Health Emergency Preparedness
      • Public Health Administration
    • The resident must complete at least 5 hours of interactive time* in each of the following subspecialty areas:
      • Forensic Pathology
      • Public Health Laboratory Practice
    • 30 additional hours may be performed in areas of interest to the resident
  2. Active participation in periodic group sessions with selected readings.
  3. Organize and conduct one journal club on a topic with public health implications.
  4. Develop and be prepared to defend a portfolio that may include a written summary of the resident’s experience in each of the subspecialty  areas especially as they relate to the practice of emergency medicine, an in-depth written review of publishable quality on one mutually agreed upon topic, any other material created by the resident such as Power Point presentations relevant to the intersection of public health and emergency medicine, or any other agreed upon tangible creation.

Sample topics within subspecialty areas

  • Environmental Health
    • Regulation, permitting and inspection processes
    • Water quality, water system and waste water regulation and oversight
    • Pest and vector surveillance and control such as West Nile Virus and other mosquito borne diseases and rabies
    • Impact of the environment on health and wellness including lead, asthma triggers, building and other code regulations, global climate change
  • Disease Control
    • Including communicable disease, chronic disease, maternal child health and injury control
    • Daily surveillance activities
    • Outbreak investigation and case finding
    • Targeted surveillance efforts such as HIV, domestic violence and other screenings in emergency departments
    • Interface, education and epidemiological information sharing with the health care community
  • Community Wellness
    • Public health education
    • Social marketing
    • Behavior change
  • Specialty Clinical Services
    • TB care
    • STD care
    • Correctional and other institutional medicine
    • Occupational medicine
  • Public Health Emergency Preparedness
    • Quarantine and isolation
    • Mass immunization and prophylaxis
    • Mass fatality care
    • Outbreak investigation and case finding
    • Risk communications
    • National incident management system, incident command and other emergency operations administrative matters
  • Public Health Administration
    • Legislative, Board of Health and other legal and regulatory matters
    • Public relations
    • Regional, statewide, national and international public health approaches
    • Grants management
    • Funding, budgets and other fiscal matters
    • Human resources in government including civil service, union contracts, outsourcing
  • Forensic Pathology
    • Scene investigation
    • Gross anatomical investigation
    • Microscopic anatomical investigation
    • Toxicological investigation
    • Medical legal
  • Public Health Laboratory Practice
    • Clinical laboratory services
    • Laboratory response Network (LRN) and other Biological Safety Level 3 (BLS3) services

*Interactive time will include observation and/or participation with public health practitioners performing their daily activities; discussions and other educational interfaces with public health practitioners; participation in meetings, conferences, exercises and other interfaces with groups of subject matter experts; preparation of articles, presentations, documents and other outreach materials on select topics to share with the public, health care providers, public health practitioners and others; and the like.

Faculty

Paul, Sucharita

Sucharita Paul, MD

Clinical Assistant Professor

UBMD Emergency Medicine 77 Goodell Street suite 340 Suite 340 Buffalo, NY 14203

Phone: 7166459700

Email: spaul@buffalo.edu

Billittier, Anthony

Anthony Billittier, MD

Associate Professor

Erie County Medical Center

Phone: 898-3525

Email: abillitt@buffalo.edu