Mission
Program Priorities and Accomplishments

CIDRAP's Mission

To prevent illness and death from infectious diseases through epidemiologic research and the rapid translation of scientific information into real-world practical applications and solutions.

We deliver on our mission through:

• Consensus building: Convening experts to assess problems, analyze available information, and develop effective public policy recommendations.
• Connecting scientific research to real-world action: Consulting with and catalyzing policymakers and the medical and public health communities to act.
• Synthesizing information: Conducting critical review and analysis of available scientific and public policy information on selected topics and generating authoritative, accurate, and current Web-based content.
• Communicating: Making current information widely available to educate and inform healthcare providers, public health professionals, students, policymakers, and people across the state and nation and around the world.
• Conducting research: Working collaboratively with students, faculty, and a wide range of public health professionals and scientists to address knowledge gaps through epidemiologic research.

CIDRAP's Program Priorities and Accomplishments

CIDRAP's stands at the forefront in addressing the most pressing infectious disease issues of our time. Our current focus is in four key areas:

• Public health preparedness
• Emerging infectious disease response
• Agricultural and food biosecurity
• Food safety

Public health preparedness

Established just one week before Sept. 11, 2001, CIDRAP has, from the beginning, made public health preparedness a major focus. Our efforts have included evaluation of the public health system and its readiness to respond to an infectious disease crisis as well as analysis of the state of infectious disease medical practice and the ability of the nation's healthcare system to respond in the event of a catastrophe—perhaps one caused by a bioterrorist act.

Since inception, CIDRAP has assumed a national leadership role in improving public health preparedness. Our work has included:

• Public policy support
• Critical information dissemination
• Response planning
• Professional eduation

Accomplishments: Public policy support

• In October 2001, with support from NTI (the Nuclear Threat Initiative), CIDRAP convened the Workgroup on Bioterrorism Preparedness, which resulted in the document "Providing a Framework for Public Health Action and Bioterrorism Preparedness: Recommendations for Federal Funding of Public Health Activities, October 2001." This document served as the basis for FY 2002 public health funding approved by Congress in December 2001. Another meeting of the workgroup was held in May 2002, focusing on public health workforce, collaboration, and infrastructure issues.
• Through Director Dr. Michael Osterholm CIDRAP has provided extensive and ongoing expert consultation to the US Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Osterholm also regularly provides testimony before the US Congress and the Minnesota legislature on public health issues and proposals.

Accomplishments: Critical information dissemination

• Through the development of its Web site, CIDRAP has provided access to timely, comprehensive information on bioterrorism and numerous resources on food safety and food and agricultural biosecurity. Increasingly, professional audiences and the public recognize the site as a premier resource, one to be consulted daily.
• Under contract with the Infectious Diseases Society of America, the Center has developed and maintains the most current and comprehensive clinical and epidemiological material on all Category A diseases, including anthrax, botulism, smallpox, viral hemorrhagic fever, tularemia, and plague anywhere on the Internet.
• Through hundreds of media interviews with Dr. Osterholm, CIDRAP has provided valuable information on current infectious disease issues to broad and diverse audiences. One result: CIDRAP and Dr. Osterholm are fast becoming highly sought-after resources.

Accomplishments: Response planning

• Under contract with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, CIDRAP has provided consultation on the rapid national deployment of the federally sponsored BioWatch air-monitoring system. The BioWatch system is being put in place to continuously sample air for pathogens that terrorists might use. CIDRAP's consultation on BioWatch also extends to numerous U.S. cities.
• In developing a plan for how the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center would respond in the event of a large-scale bioterrorism event or other public health emergency, CIDRAP has developed a framework upon which other university-based health centers across the country can build to assess and document their roles under similar circumstances.

Accomplishments: Professional education

• To address the nation's acute shortage of epidemiologists, CIDRAP, working under contract with the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), has developed a blueprint for a new applied fellowship. As a result of this blueprint, CSTE has implemented a new program: the first class of epidemiology fellows began their positions in state and large city health departments across the country in the fall of 2003.
• Undergraduates and graduate students from a variety of health disciplines have taken a new course developed by the Center. The course, "Infectious Disease Prevention and Control: Current Policy Issues and Controversies," was designed to engage students in analyzing and discussing practical public health issues associated with preventing and controlling infectious diseases.
• CIDRAP works closely with the University of Minnesota School of Public Health Center for Public Health Preparedness by developing and reviewing training materials, including a new course on the design, implementation and evaluation of public health exercises.

Emerging infectious disease response

Recent events surrounding the occurrence of SARS around the world, and monkeypox in the United States, are a reminder of the ever-increasing risk of new and emerging infectious diseases. One of CIDRAP's most important services is to provide rapid and accurate analysis and commentary related to the infectious disease issues of the moment.

Accomplishments: Web-based information and resources

• CIDRAP has developed a state-of-the art Web site designed to provide up-to-the minute information and resources related to emerging infectious disease topics. We provide current, in-depth information on bioterrorism, biosecurity, food safety and new hot topics (SARS, monkeypox, West Nile); original news stories; and comprehensive and current lists of guidelines and articles in the literature with Web links. Our site content offers a balance of public health, medical, and public policy information.
• CIDRAP's staff of professionals is dedicated to assuring that viewers have the best and latest information available by closely monitoring developments in the field and updating our original content and related links continuously. We search numerous Web sites every day—CDC, other academic-based public health preparedness centers, professional societies, journals and news sources, and other federal, state, and local public health and emergency preparedness agencies—for the most current and relevant information. Our goal is to continue the development of an Internet-based "living textbook" on infectious disease topics.
• These features make our site a "one-stop shop" for professionals who desire to keep abreast of the ever-changing infectious disease landscape. Growing numbers of users report that they look to the CIDRAP site for both late-breaking news and for resources providing in-depth information and analysis.

Accomplishments: Just-in-time consultation

• Monkeypox: Dr. Osterholm has been a leader in defining the potential infectious disease risks associated with the movement and ownership of exotic pets for more than a decade. Because of specific work had done more than five years ago to define the potential disease implications of North American prairie dog trade, he was immediately consulted by senior Department of Health and Human Services officials following the recognition of monkeypox. He continued to provide significant consultation on the appropriate public health response to this emergency issue.
• SARS: CIDRAP has provided expert consultation to international and national public health authorities on the investigation and control of SARS. Dr. Osterholm has worked to educate the public through numerous national and local media appearances. The Center has also developed a current and comprehensive SARS content area on our Website. For the past month this site has been in the top five most frequently visited SARS-related sites on Yahoo and Google News.

Accomplishments: Education and public information

• CIDRAP co-sponsors an annual CME conference, "Emerging Infections in Clinical Practice and Emerging Health Threats."
• CIDRAP staff participate in numerous national and regional media interviews regarding a multitude of infectious disease issues and present to over 60 national, regional, and/or local groups each year.

Agricultural and food biosecurity

Deliberate contamination or disruption of the nation's food supply represents a distinct vulnerability, one requiring effective, coordinated strategies to guard against and respond to threats or incidents of bioterrorism. Critical capabilities include rapid identification of potential contaminants, accurate and credible risk-communication messaging to the public, and swift implementation of an effective public health response. Perhaps in no other area is collaboration among industry, government, and academia more crucial.

CIDRAP's biosecurity efforts, supported by a grant from NTI, have focused on three key areas: bringing together the many parties involved in farm-to-table food delivery to identify unmet needs and devise effective prevention and response strategies; providing comprehensive Web-based information; and delivering targeted biosecurity training programs.

Accomplishments: Coordinating a farm-to-table approach

• The Center's position as a neutral third party has enabled it to convene representatives from all segments of the food system to begin addressing key issues. In addition to gathering industry leaders from agriculture, food processing, and retail food service and their trade associations, CIDRAP-sponsored sessions have included representatives from state and federal governments, law enforcement agencies, and academia. This unique farm-to-table group has focused on identifying current gaps in biosecurity across the food and agriculture sectors and assessing options for safeguarding the food supply.
• CIDRAP conducted a biosecurity needs-assessment survey, based on key informant interviews of industry leaders, to gain a greater understanding of the specific biosecurity issues facing food and agriculture industries and to elicit recommendations for addressing them.
• In early 2003, CIDRAP organized a strategic planning committee, made up of senior-level agriculture and food industry executives and scientific leaders with a balance of interests and expertise across the entire food chain to address the critical need for protecting against potential threats of deliberate food contamination. After careful deliberation over several months, the committee proposed the development of a neutral, farm-to-table mechanism for exchanging and analyzing relevant, real-time biosecurity information.
• In September 2003, the committee approved a blueprint for an independent, member-directed agriculture and food biosecurity center, whose overall goal is to protect the critical infrastructure of the food system from acts of terrorism through proactive information sharing, analysis, event response, education, and training. In support of the committee's proposal, CIDRAP initiated a short-term pilot project to test and demonstrate the feasibility of biosecurity information collection, sharing, analysis, and response, based on the committee's list of high-priority surveillance topics.

Accomplishments: Providing comprehensive Web-based information

• CIDRAP's Web site has played a central role in disseminating information and raising awareness of agricultural and food biosecurity issues. The site provides easily accessible, authoritative information on a variety of current biosecurity topics including:
• • Comprehensive summaries of key human, animal, and plant diseases of concern as possible indicators of bioterrorism
  • Guidance documents for the food industry, including a listing of independent food testing laboratories, a protocol for initial assessment of biosecurity threats, and a compilation of resources on biosecurity planning and preparedness activities 
  • Background information on foodborne pathogens relevant to potential contamination incidents
  • News stories on current events in food and agricultural biosecurity and foodborne disease surveillance

Accomplishments: Delivering biosecurity training programs

• CIDRAP has developed food biosecurity programs and materials for public and private sector professionals working in public health, food production, and agricultural industries. Programs include continuing education and academic credit courses offered on campus and through distance learning.
• CIDRAP staff participate in the University of Minnesota's annual Public Health Institute, which offers courses in food safety and biosecurity, the global food system, risk communication, foodborne disease surveillance, infectious disease epidemiology, and public health preparedness, response, and recovery.

Food safety

Although the US food supply is among the world's safest, a number of factors have increased the threat of foodborne disease. Among them: increased consumption of a greater variety of imported and commercially prepared foods, an aging population more at risk of foodborne illness and the discovery of a broader array of foodborne hazards, including new pathogens.

CIDRAP's work in this critical area focuses on promoting measures to improve food safety. Emphasis has been on encouraging the implementation of routine irradiation of meat, poultry, and produce.

Accomplishments

• CIDRAP is participating in the development of a national public relations campaign to promote consumer acceptance of irradiated foods. It also is consulting with leaders from the wholesale and retail grocery, institutional food service, and restaurants regarding the sale of irradiated products.
• The Center's collection of scientific information on food safety and the use of irradiation makes it a national resource center on those topics—and its Web site provides immediate access to extensive information on food safety, foodborne diseases, and irradiation.
• CIDRAP's Web site provides immediate access to extensive information on food safety, foodborne diseases, and irradiation.

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