Colleges

Course Description: The term "evidence-based public health" entered the professional lexicon in the late 1990s. In brief, an evidence-based public health approach brings together the best available research, practitioner expertise, and community preferences to guide all stages of program planning, implementation, and evaluation, with the goal of improving population health. As a lead epidemiologist in chronic disease, using an evidence-based approach provides you with a collaborative and systematic process to identify opportunities for integration, leading to data-driven, effective strategies for implementation. This approach builds a collaborative team, a shared understanding of effective strategies, a shared agenda, mutually supportive activities, and shared performance indicators (or a comprehensive evaluation plan). In other words, you can use this approach to achieve collective impact, if you add to it ongoing communication and foundational support. For a senior epidemiologist or specialist supervising or mentoring a lead epidemiologist, start by thinking about issues or problems in your jurisdiction that could benefit from this approach. Or, identify existing chronic disease prevention activities that need evaluation. For a junior epidemiologist, ask for help with a literature review or read the literature that supports the strategies that the CDC recommends for chronic disease prevention and control.