State Chronic Disease Epidemiology Assignee Program

What to know

  • CDC invests in state public health departments to strengthen their chronic disease detection and prevention efforts. The State Chronic Disease Epidemiology Assignee Program provides resources to secure and support on-site CDC chronic disease epidemiology scientists.
Epidemiologist looking at data on a laptop.

What it is

The State Chronic Disease Epidemiology Assignee Program assists states with building chronic disease epidemiology capacity by providing state public health departments with resources to secure and support on-site CDC chronic disease epidemiologists.

The Program has many external partners, including:

  • State public health departments.
  • The Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE).
  • The National Association of Chronic Disease Directors (NACDD).

How the program works

Through direct assistance from CDC, a chronic disease epidemiologist is assigned to a state public health department by request for one year or longer, depending on the state's needs and funding availability.

For more information about the direct assistance mechanism, please visit CDC's webpage on direct assistance.

Keep Reading: What State Epidemiologists Do

Program History

CDC created the State Chronic Disease Epidemiology Assignee Program in 1991, following the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine's Future of Public Health report.1

Since the program began in 1991, it has supported over 100 assignees in 37 states and New York City.

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Map of the United States showing states that have had past assignees, no assignees, and current assignees. Arizona and Illinois are highlighted as states with current assignees.
Arizona and Illinois are states with current assignees.

Advancing state chronic disease prevention

Assignees have worked across a range of chronic disease topics—from arthritis and asthma, to cancer, diabetes, heart disease and stroke prevention and control—to:

  • Develop systematic data collection and reporting processes.
    • Collaborating and integrating with other programs to identify data sources and indicators, interpret and disseminate data, and use data as part of an evidence-based public health approach.
  • Develop data products and innovative tools to support chronic disease prevention programs and increase data access for program planning.
  • Develop resource guides to promote understanding of the roles of and technical challenges faced by chronic disease epidemiologists.
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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)
  1. Frey CA, Remington PL, Lengerich E et al. Evaluation of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s chronic disease State-based Epidemiology for Public Health Program Support (STEPPS) program. J Public Health Manag Pract 2003;9(4):266-74.
  • Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists. Chronic Disease Epidemiologist Orientation Manual: A Resource for Applied Epidemiologists. Atlanta, GA: CSTE; 2015.