Epidemiology and Analysis Program Office

The Epidemiology and Analytic Methods Program Office (EAPO) supports public health decision making by advancing epidemiologic methods, analytic techniques, library sciences, health equity, information dissemination and systematic literature reviews.

Several fundamental principles underscore EAPO efforts to fulfill our mission. Science is the foundation; translation is the art - whether through publication of new and emerging health threats in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), evidence-based interventions in the Guide to Community Preventive Services, or in the sophisticated analysis and modeling of the effects of a hurricane or outbreak on an impacted community. Good science, well translated, protects people, conserves resources, and mitigates disasters.

The EAPO community recognizes that leadership goes in both directions; and that listening to our audiences is important. Each person coding EpiInfo™ software is committed to excellence in preparing version 7.0 for worldwide release in August, 2011. Following the plan laid out over 15 years ago for this gold standard epidemiologic tool, dialogue with users assures that this product remains useful, technologically competent, and flexible for today's epidemiologic investigation needs. New modules to incorporate outbreak management make this software invaluable for not only epidemic tracking and intelligence, but for resource allocation, contingency planning, and administrative management tasks.

CDC's Public Health Library and Information Center is being designed to serve the CDC Community with state-of-the-art digital resources of the latest science, accessible from the desktop or several facilities through the United States. Special search services are also available: to support systematic literature reviews, to locate difficult-to-find manuscripts, audio/visual materials or even historical records from other repositories.

Every month, a special issue of the MMWR called CDC Vital Signs, explores the scientific, policy, and communications dimensions of thorny public health problems. The obesity epidemic, plateauing of smoking cessation rates, unequal access to healthcare and other topics are reviewed, and recommendations made to doctors, patients, state and local health departments, and others to advance the fight against the leading causes of death and disability in America.