Washington Integrated Food Safety Center of Excellence is a collaboration between the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) and the University of Washington (UW). Beth Melius serves as the center’s DOH co director. She has been the lead enteric disease epidemiologist in Washington since 2013. Janet Baseman, Professor of Epidemiology and Associate Dean for Public Health Practice, serves as the academic co-director. Janet is an infectious disease epidemiologist and has been instrumental in strengthening the relationship between the UW School of Public Health and public health practitioners.
The Washington CoE brings strength in several areas including:
- Laboratory and Epidemiology integration – Tools and resources are available to promote increased collaboration
between epidemiologists and laboratorians. - Bioinformatics – The Western Regional Bioinformatician is available for consultations and site visits.
- NEARS – NORS – Guidance on creating a robust collaboration between epidemiologist and environmental health staff to ensure complete and reconciled data between NEARS and NORS.
- The Northwest Center of Public Health Practice (NWCPHP) at UW – Provides expertise in public health-focused
instructional design, web design, and graphic design. NWCPHP also creates and maintains an extensive public health training catalog.
For more information visit their website at http://foodsafety.uw.edu/.