Anam Syed

Master's

Epidemiology

WASHINGTON DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Project Coordinator for the Respiratory Illness Data RID

- Olympia, WA OCTOBER 2022 - PRESENT - EPIDEMIOLOGIST 2 - 40 Hours - Duties and Responsibilities: Epidemiologist 2 - Collaborate with multiple Washington Department of Health (WA DOH) teams and provide epidemiological expertise to meet WA DOH surveillance goals - Serve as the Project Coordinator for the Respiratory Illness Data (RID) Dashboard. Duties include: developing an initial summary and ongoing summary after the initial launch of the RID Dashboard of the feedback received from stakeholders, internal and external partners, and Subject Matter Experts (SMEs - Coordinate with multiple WA DOH teams and SMEs to incorporate hospitalization, immunization, emergency visits, and more data for Flu, COVID-19 and RSV for the weekly refresh of the RID Dashboard - Lead the RID Dashboard refresh with no supervision by implementing the best data visualization and data quality practices in all steps of dashboard refresh, including maintaining professional relationships among SMEs, creating a public-facing Data Note providing information about data on the dashboard, and conducting Quality Assurance (QA) check on over 10 summary tables and 10 data downloadable files that provide regional, demographic, and death data available for the general public to interpret and access - Develop the SOP for the RID Dashboard refresh - Lead trainings for team members on the RID Dashboard refresh process, documented their progress, and provide support throughout the entirety of the training process - Analyze routine surveillance data to inform guidance and protocols using software such as R and SAS - Participate in complex technical epidemiologic projects simultaneously in collaboration with epidemiologists from multiple teams - Collaborated with the Industry and Occupation (InO) and Labor and Industries team (LnI) team to develop the internal Industry and Occupation (InO) Report that provides data on occupation, industry, and employment for COVID-19 cases among employed Washington residents from January 2020- December 31, 2022. The report provides insight into which industry and occupation were at highest risk of COVID-19 - Standardized InO data using the National Industry and Occupation Computerized Coding System (NIOCCS) and stratified the InO data by race, ethnicity, age, occupation, industry and more to present the findings at the 2024 CSTE Conference - Research and review major public health policies impacting surveillance policies and make recommendations to leadership, internal state-level partners, and external partners at the county-level, Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs), healthcare settings, and laboratories - Assessed the impact of discontinuation of COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) funding on immunization and other disease prevention resources for the public. Crafted talking points tailored to internal immunization, guidance, and policy teams to strategically communicate the impact of funding on large-scale public health surveillance success - Providing guidance to external partners at the county and state level and across various settings such as healthcare, laboratories, and other partners surrounding anticipated adaptations to prepare for and respond to the conclusion of the PHE funding - Monitor Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) case definitions and determine impact of changes on WA DOH. Create talking points and collaborate with internal partners including the policy team, guidance team, leadership, media relations, and SMEs to determine WA DOH response - Lead collaboration with internal partners across the agency to determine statewide response to CSTE changes to COVID-19 death and case definitions, including responding to public inquiries and implementing strategies to accommodate for the changes - Provide technical support to healthcare workers, laboratory scientists, and other internal and external partners in interpreting and applying new COVID-19 case and death definitions - Collected information about dashboards developed LHJs across the state of Washington to better understand information they share with partners, and what information LHJs rely on state-level data from WA DOH - Established processes for dashboard revision to facilitate state and local data sharing, deduplication of effort, and share recommendations among multiple agencies for continuous dashboard improvement - Collaborate with the guidance and policy team and provide input on public-facing guidance documents to ensure alignment with the changing landscape of COVID-19 guidance. Guidance documents include Point-of-Care (POC) testing reporting, Over-the-Counter (OTC) self-testing reporting, K-12 school guidance, Return to Work guidance, and more - Gather reporting requirements, draft guidance, get input from multiple teams if needed, and develop talking points to communicate guidance to healthcare facilities and laboratories - Developed the COVID-19 POC reporting form that includes 72 race categories, and 50 preferred language categories to align with WA DOH equity goals for more inclusivity among Washington residents - Monitor the shared Microsoft Outlook inbox daily for incoming inquiries about testing, reporting, RID Dashboard data, any other data, and more