title: The CDC/Council of state and territorial epidemiologists applied epidemiology fellowship program: evaluation of the first 9 years.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) implemented the Applied Epidemiology Fellowship (AEF) in 2003 to train public health professionals in applied epidemiology and strengthen applied epidemiology capacity within public health institutions to address the identified challenges. The CSTE recently evaluated the outcomes of the fellowship across the last 9 years.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To review the findings from the outcome evaluation of the first nine classes of AEF alumni with particular attention to how the fellowship affected alumni careers, mentors' careers, host site agency capacity, and competencies of the applied epidemiology workforce.
  
  
  METHODS
  The mixed-methods evaluation used surveys and administrative data. Administrative data were gathered over the past 9 years and the surveys were collected in late 2013 and early 2014. Descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis were conducted in early 2014 to examine the data from more than 130 alumni and 150 mentors.
  
  
  RESULTS
  More than half the alumni (67%) indicated the fellowship was essential to their long-term career. In addition, 79% of the mentors indicated that participating in the fellowship had a positive impact on their career. Mentors also indicated significant impacts on host site capacity. A majority (88%) of alumni had worked for at least 1 year or more in government public health environments after the fellowship.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evaluation findings support previous research indicating need for competency-based field-based training programs that include a strong mentoring component. These characteristics in a field-based training program can increase applied epidemiology capacity in various ways.
authors.affiliation: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia. Electronic address: vdick@cste.org.
authors.forename: Virginia R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.affiliation: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Amanda E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Masters
authors.affiliation: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Patrick J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: McConnon
authors.affiliation: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Jeffrey P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Engel
authors.affiliation: Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, Atlanta, Georgia.
authors.forename: Valerie N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Underwood
authors.affiliation: Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, San Francisco, California; University of California, San Francisco, California.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Harrison
mesh_terms: D002322:Career Mobility; D002487:Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S.; D004813:Epidemiology / Q000193:education*; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006801:Humans; D008611:Mentors; D011361:Professional Competence; D015397:Program Evaluation; D013219:State Government; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States