Letters To The
Editor
February 2019
Posted following the January 2019 issue.
The Epidemiology
Monitor is celebrating its 40th, while the Epidemiology Department at
the Hopkins School of Public Health celebrated its 100th birthday by
thinking about the state of epidemiology--- past and future.
This thought-provoking interview reported with Prof. Bryan Lau
gives me pause to wonder how it is that the topic of epidemiology's
role to inform policy does not appear to have been considered in the
interview when considering the state of epidemiology--- past and
future. As the science to inform public health policy (as per the most
commonly used definitions), I wonder how it was missed? This question
relates to yet another anniversary among epidemiologists:
2019 is the 12th anniversary of what was founded as the Joint Policy
Committee of the Societies of Epidemiology (JPC-SE) in Seattle in
2006; it assumed operations in 2007. The organization grew
substantially from 2012, and re-branded itself in 2018 as the
International Network for Epidemiology in Policy (INEP)
www.epidemiologyinpolicy.org.
INEP has focused on the role of epidemiology at the interface of
research and policy. It has enjoyed much support from some of our
societies of epidemiology, internationally, but not from others. Some
prefer to avoid the policy realm, yet we are hearing more and more
about "translational" and "consequential" epidemiology.
Some reasons for not
participating in
INEP are that there is
a preference to not engage with ethics in the research and practice
dimensions of our discipline; others have historically expressed the
preference to focus exclusively on epidemiological methods; others
simply do not, being volunteer associations and societies, have the
capacity to join with INEP, a consortium/umbrella organization. And,
others have meanwhile set up - within their own sub-specialty
organizations of epidemiology - their own policy committees.
This fragmentation perhaps warrants attention by epidemiologists
worldwide if our social relevance and capacity to influence policy are
to be maintained and ideally strengthened.
Colin L Soskolne, PhD
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