A review of the applied epidemiology workforce in the United States: past, present, and future

Applied epidemiologists are key professionals within the public health workforce, fulfilling core public health science functions. The public health system in the United States has been rapidly transforming over the last decade and epidemiologists will need to develop new skill sets to be successful in the future of public health. A review of the literature was undertaken to gain a comprehensive understanding of the past and present of the applied epidemiology workforce to inform future workforce initiatives aimed at improving applied epidemiology practice. The literature search identified 48 articles related to applied epidemiologists working in the United States at the federal, state, and local levels. These articles described efforts to build, enumerate, and assess the competency of the applied epidemiology workforce in addition to putting forward opinions about it. Overall, the articles demonstrated significant prior work enumerating the applied epidemiology workforce, some prior work identifying epidemiology training needs, and few prior studies assessing competency. The functions, skill sets, and training needs of epidemiologists have changed over time and the literature provides a number of recommendations for future training. Continued assessment of the workforce literature is recommended to monitor training needs and competency for use in implementing effective workforce development activities. (c) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

Applied epidemiologists play a crucial role in the public health workforce and need to develop new skills to meet the evolving needs of public health. A review of the literature identified a number of studies describing the functions and training needs of epidemiologists, but there is a lack of research assessing their competency. Continued assessment of the workforce literature is recommended to inform effective workforce development activities.