Strategic Plan

Objectives and Strategies

A. Overall Goals

The Department of Epidemiology's goals are to:

1. Educate highly competent and committed public health professionals and research scientists in Epidemiology
2. Conduct innovative epidemiological research
3. Promote service and collaboration with the research and practice community
4. Increase public health knowledge and infrastructure
5. Enhance diversity and collaboration among students, staff, faculty, and alumni
6. Become a top Department of Epidemiology

In the next five years the Department of Epidemiology strives to become a leading academic and research program in epidemiology in the U.S. and to increase its role in public health. In order to accomplish this goal the Department needs to augment its successful research program by adding more faculty in areas of high public health impact (cancer, infectious disease and injuries) and in areas where the Department has a shortage of faculty ( infectious disease epidemiology , molecular epidemiology, genetic epidemiology, health service epidemiology and environmental epidemiology). Expansion of the teaching mission to public health practitioners requires changes in teaching methods and establishment of distance learning with a regional view. With the expanded role in public health, the Department seeks to broaden collaborative efforts with the Iowa Department of Public Health, county health departments and other public health organizations in the region through education, evaluation and consultation.

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Primary Objectives for 2001-2005

Goal 1: Educate highly competent and committed public health professionals and research scientists in Epidemiology

1: Maintain Master of Science and Master of Public Health degree programs

• Have no fewer than 30 students enrolled annually in the MS and MPH in Epidemiology degree programs
• Achieve and maintain mean combined analytic, quantitative and verbal GRE scores of 1600 for entering students
• Achieve a GPA average of 3.25 for enrolled MS and MPH students
• Achieve 90% graduation rates of enrolled students
• Achieve 90% relevant employment of graduates within 6 months of graduation

2: Develop and maintain high-quality, well-supported doctoral and post-doctoral programs

• Obtain 3 new training grants by FY 2005
• Maintain the ratio of PhD students:faculty at a minimum of 1 by FY 2005.
• Achieve and maintain mean combined analytic, quantitative and verbal GRE scores of 1600 for entering students
• Achieve a GPA average of 3.5 for enrolled PhD students
• Attain funding support for at least 90% of PhD students annually through FY 2005
• Achieve 90% graduation rates within 7 years of enrollment
• Achieve 100% relevant employment within 6 months of graduation

3: Promote interdisciplinary educational programs including joint degree programs with departments in the health science colleges, other colleges within the University, and other Iowa Regent institutions

• Enhance undergraduate link to graduate education by 1) teaching EVBPH, 2) offer internships to undergrad students, and 3) work with College on articulation agreements
• Implement a DVM-MPH joint degree program in Veterinary Epidemiology with Iowa State University (ISU)
• Work with ISU and CPH-CBH faculty in establishing a joint MPH program in Human Nutrition
• Collaborate in the K30 program in clinical epidemiology
• Increase the number of faculty mentoring students in the MSTP program
• Continue collaboration and establish joint educational programs with Geography, Health Management and Policy (Health Services Epidemiology), OEH (Injury Epidemiology, Environmental Epidemiology), CBH (Behavioral Epidemiology), Biostatistics (Epidemiologic Methods), and College of Pharmacy (Pharmacoepidemiology)

 4: Incorporate contemporary computer technology in the delivery of instruction

• Establish a computer simulation lab utilizing contemporary data and software including statistical, graphical and GIS software

5: Create infrastructure

• Obtain, fund, furnish and dedicate a library by FY 2004
• Create a task force to examine data management , data archive and computing needs and organization for the Department

6: Support and participate in CPH initiatives in expanding public health education

• Participate in a CPH Summer Institute
• Participate in Iowa Center for Public Health Preparedness activities
• Participate in continuing education activities of public health workers and Epidemiology graduates

7: Assess and improve existing processes to recruit and admit high-quality students for all of the College's educational programs

• Conduct a review of current recruitment methods , with a special focus on minority student recruitments

8: Attract and employ the new faculty members needed to support educational programs

• Increase the number of FTE primary faculty to 16 by FY 2005
• Increase the number of FTE secondary and adjunct faculty to 30 in FY 2005
• Increase department administrative and clerical staff to 6 FTEs by FY 2004

9: Enhance faculty teaching, development, and evaluation

• Increase the average number of activities to improve teaching quality to 3 per year per teaching faculty member by 2003
• Fund initiatives to develop teaching methods

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Goal 2 : To conduct innovative epidemiologic research

10:Recruit new faculty and staff in the high priority research areas

• Increase the number of FTE primary and secondary faculty and staff in high priority research areas by 2005 including
• Health services epidemiology
• Acute injury epidemiology
• Infectious disease epidemiology
• Genetics and molecular epidemiology

11: Expand, enhance and consolidate into one location the research space and infrastructure needed to promote faculty and student research

• Identify ways to locate research space in one location
• Acquire space commensurate with staff growth, i.e. 150 sq ft/ staff member
• Store paper records in electronic format and establish a library for archived data

12: Develop and maintain Centers and Programs for collaborative research and promotion of research funding and scholarship

• Maintain Centers and facilities hosted by the Department
• Expand Prevention Intervention Center by establishing clinic in Waterloo by 2005

13: Maintain and increase Departmental research, funding and scholarship

• Maintain primary faculty salary offset at greater than 50%
• Implement indirect cost policy
• Increase faculty peer reviewed publications by 5% annually
• New grants should increase by 5% annually
• Maintain an annual percentage of primary faculty receiving external support for research and scholarship at a minimum of 80%.
• Achieve a minimum of 80% of faculty and staff receiving funding for research and scholarship

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Goal 3 : Promote service and collaboration with the research and practice community.

14: Develop and maintain service activities at the local, state, and regional levels

• Document service activities

15: Increase communication

• Produce and publish newsletters
• Produce and publish reports from Centers
• Collaborate with CPHS on an Iowa Health Fact Book publication
• Establish technical reports
• Produce and disseminate a list of publications
• Improve website

16: Produce and present evidence for creation and evaluation of public policy

• Increase involvement on state and local committees
• Increase interaction with CPH and other UI departments, centers and external agencies in policy development and evaluation
• Analyze and prepare reports from epidemiologic databases

17: Promote and support the participation of Department faculty in pertinent public health societies, organizations, and programs at the state, national and international levels

• Increase by 10% the number of faculty who hold leadership roles (i.e., office holders, journal editors, conference organizers) in such organizations in FY 2004 as compared to FY 2001

 18: Provide consultation and assistance with the Center for Public Health Statistics

• Enhance and publish the Iowa Health fact Book in 2003 and 2005 in conjunction with the Iowa Department of Public Health, the College of Public Health and the Department of Biostatistics

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Goal 4 : Increase public health knowledge and infrastructure.

19: Assist in policy development and evaluation

• Increase involvement on state and local committees
• Interact with CPH and other UI departments, centers and external agencies in providing evidence for policy development and evaluation of existing policies

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Goal 5 : Enhance diversity and collaboration among students, staff, faculty, and alumni.

20: Assess, strengthen, and promote University-wide and College programs directed toward identifying, recruiting, and supporting well-qualified minority and women faculty, staff and students

• Increase the proportion of minority faculty, staff and students to be equivalent to University/community levels

21: In concert with the UI Alumni Association and the UI Foundation, improve alumni relations including communication and involvement

• Maintain a comprehensive database of Departmental graduates and certificate awardees
• Implement the CPH guidelines for alumni relations' activities

22: Enhance mechanisms to promote effective communications within the Department and between the departments and key external constituencies

• Implement an on-going process for reviewing and enhancing the website based on input from faculty, staff, students and consultants
• Develop a semiannual departmental newsletter and an annual report

23: In concert with the UI Foundation and with the College of Public Health , implement the department's external fund-raising plan

• Secure a f ounding p artner by the end of FY 2005 .
• Endow a professorship and/or chair by the end of FY 2005
• Secure funding for a nutrition education center
• Establish foundation accounts for the Iowa Cancer Registry (ICR) and Iowa Birth Defects Registry (IBDR)
• Raise $30,000 for the Isacson Library

24: Create and implement assessment processes that will contribute to building an enjoyable and productive working environment for CPH faculty and staff

• Promote professional development of faculty and staff
• E nsure that 100% of cph faculty and staff receive formal performance evaluations and feedback on an annual basis
• Develop and implement an effective, mechanism for obtaining input from faculty and staff
• Provide staff recognition awards related to years in service
• Increase by 10.0% the number of staff and primary faculty participating in professional development activities

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Goal 6 : Become a top Department of Epidemiology by the end of this decade

25: Review Departmental status and progress and contribute to CPH accreditation

• Implement competencies for degree programs and assess curriculum for adherence to competency achievement