Establishing an Applied Epidemiology Collaboration Partnership
(in conjunction with an Applied Epidemiology In-Service Training/Fellowship Program):
iHASE-accredited/affiliated Collaboration Centers/Units/Groups are collaborative initiatives organized around projects in any of the IHASE applied HIV Epidemiology core/focus areas . Projects in these core/focus areas are aimed at strengthening community/public health agency capacity for evidence-based Public Health practice in HIV prevention and control through providing applied HIV Epidemiology support, i.e. population-level assessment (Public Health Surveillance) of disease burden, risk and outcomes; conduct applied Epidemiologic research on HIV interventions (biomedical, behavioral and social) and services; conduct applied HIV Epidemiology in-service training; and conduct quality assurance of applied HIV Epidemiology work and continuing education through peer-review.
 

Step 1: Initiation of Collaboration and Project Leadership/Preceptorship Considerations: 

  1. Community/Public Health or Academic agency-initiated collaboration: At least 6 - 12 months before the intended effective date of collaborative work, the community/public health and/or academic agencies may initiate the collaborative partnership and identify iHASE applied HIV Epidemiology core/focus area topics to collaborate on (and if possible a potential fellow). iHASE and/or jHASE provides an electronic notice board for posting of openings/search ads through which public health agencies, academic faculty and prospective fellows can be matched.

  2. Internship/Fellowship candidate-initiated collaboration: At least 3 - 6 months before the intended fellowship and collaboration partnership is implemented, applicants /candidates for fellowships (MCAE-associates) may initiate the process by identifying an iHASE applied HIV Epidemiology core/focus area topic and search iHASE and/or jHASE electronic notice boards for a compatible Collaboration Center/Group/Unit to collaborate with. This process may include identifying both an academic faculty preceptor and a public health agency faculty preceptor to serve as iHASE-accredited faculty supervisors of the project, if the identified project does not already have iHASE-accreditation.

  3. Consideration of Adequacy of Scientific Project Leadership/Preceptorship: To assure that iHASE-affiliated and iHASE-accredited projects and fellowships have adequate scientific project leadership and preceptorship meeting the highest standards of qualifications and experience, the following terms are applicable: 

    • The academic training and applied Epidemiology experience of both lead co-investigators and/or fellowship preceptors must meet eligibility criteria for Members of the College of Applied Epidemiology (MCAE) before implementation of independent iHASE-accredited projects or before grant application for intramural iHASE-affiliated projects; 

    • At least one of the lead co-investigators and/or fellowship preceptors must meet eligibility requirements for Fellows of the College of Applied Epidemiology (FCAE);  

    • Project accreditation documentation outlined below must be submitted with biographical sketches of proposed preceptors formatted following PHS/NIH guidelines and a brief notes on the preceptor forms referenced below indicating supporting evidence in the preceptor's bio sketch regarding how the preceptor meets eligibility requirements for MCAE &/or FCAE as outlined above;

    • Project lead co-investigators and/or fellowship preceptors do not necessarily need to hold prior paid appointments at collaborating partner academic institutions or public health agencies that their projects are intended to be affiliated with, and iHASE does not require remuneration of lead co-investigators and/or fellowship preceptors on independent iHASE-accredited projects; 

    • Project lead co-investigators and/or fellowship preceptors do not have to be active status MCAEs or FCAEs.

    • To initiate a Collaboration Center/Unit/Group (including Faculty/ Preceptor/Consultant applications), please follow the relevant application process described in the section below .  

Step 2: How to Initiate an Application for: 2.1) Community/Public Health or Academic agency-initiated iHASE-accredited Collaboration Center/Unit/Group; OR  2.2) Internship/Fellowship candidate-initiated collaboration;    

Collaboration initiatives applying for iHASE Collaboration Center/Unit/Group or individual project accreditation/affiliation are requested to initiate the process as follows:

 

2.1. Community/Public Health or Academic agency-initiated iHASE-accredited/affiliated Collaboration Center/Unit/Group:

  1. Adequacy of fellow hosting arrangements with collaborating community/public health agency (&/or academic institution): i.e. resources available to facilitate the hosting arrangement, if fellow is hosted/resident at the collaborating public health agency (e.g. availability of work space, computers, software, opportunities for fellow participation in program development, implementation, and data analyses, and facilitation of logistics for intern/fellow lodging); we request that potential host sites and their potential in-house preceptors complete the host site information form (Section 3 of forms) which is included in the internship/fellowship application forms linked to the bottom of the document at this page .

  2. To initiate an application for an iHASE-accredited/affiliated Applied Epidemiology Collaboration Center/Unit/Group (including Preceptorships for In-Service Training Internship/Fellowship), we kindly request the following:

    1. A letter of interest from the academic institution OR public health agency indicating an interest in forming/establishing an iHASE-accredited/affiliated Collaboration Center/Unit/Group;

    2. PHS.398 format biographical sketches of each potential preceptor who will be part of the proposed Collaboration Center/Unit/Group, i.e. each potential preceptor should complete an online Community of Science PHS.398 format profile ( Join & Submit your CosProfile for Free ); and

    3. A completed 1-page training program preceptor form for each potential preceptor: the relevant training program preceptor form is included in the internship/fellowship application forms linked to the bottom of the document at this page (please skip the internship/fellowship applicant recommendation sub-section of the preceptor form if you are not submitting your form in support of an application by a potential intern/fellow); potential faculty/preceptors are to use this form to also indicate/reference experience and qualifications described on the bio sketch which substantiates eligibility for MCAE and/or FCAE credentialing of potential faculty/preceptors ;

    4. Supplemental Guidance for inter/intra-institutional recruitment of Faculty to participate in Collaboration Centers/Units/Groups which may include a mixture of Faculty from Schools of Public Health and Schools of Medicine may be accessed by clicking here.

2.2. Internship/Fellowship candidate-initiated collaboration:

  1. Individuals who are potential interns/fellows may initiate an application for applied HIV Epidemiology training or internship/fellowship in partnership with a preceptor or independently (a preceptor will be assigned). After submission of the application forms included in the internship/fellowship application forms available at the web page referenced at the end of the sub-list below, the potential intern/fellow will work with assigned preceptors to develop proposed in-service training project plans which include the following:

    1. Benefit of proposed project to public health agency and focus on iHASE core activity areas: i.e. how the proposed project addresses an essential iHASE core service and training activity area and will benefit the collaborating public health agency; 

    2. In-service training plan to assure fulfillment of iHASE curriculum objectives: i.e. how the fellow will fulfill/complete the fellowship curriculum objectives by completing a skills audit and curriculum fulfillment plan demonstrating how each of the curriculum elements will be fulfilled within the proposed project; 

    3. Applied HIV Epidemiology Project Plans: Project plans within the iHASE core activity focus areas (independent iHASE-accredited and intramural iHASE-affiliated) must be formatted and submitted to iHASE using the standardized PHS/NIH-compatible set of project plan guidelines and forms. The fellow and his/ her preceptors should create the plan jointly in accordance with instructions and submit the plan to iHASE for peer-review, fellow registration, and iHASE-collaboration center/unit/group accreditation (ideally before applying for funding). For examples based on other institutions' guidelines for applied Epidemiology/research project plans: iHASE Applied HIV Epidemiology Fellowship; jHASE Applied Epi Peer Review Fellowship (Quality Assurance & Continuing Ed. through Peer Review) ; Columbia Univ School of Public Health (SPH) guidelines for practicum ; Columbia Univ SPH master's theses guidelines ; Columbia Univ SPH doctoral dissertation guidelines ; and Penn State College of Medicine - medical student research (MSR) guidelines ).

    4. To initiate an application for applied HIV Epidemiology in-service training internship/fellowship, please review the relevant steps and information at this web page .
Step 3: Determination of iHASE-accreditation of projects and iHASE Collaboration Center/Unit/Group will be conducted by iHASE Project Reviewers. Proposed collaboration initiatives are requested to submit "Project Plans of Action(POA)" for accreditation with names and contact information of at least 3 potential readers (project external peer reviewers) who must: i) be knowledgeable of the subject matter of the proposed project, ii) meet eligibility requirements for accreditation as MCAEs (Members of the College of Applied Epidemiology), iii) not be employed by the same organization as any members of the proposed collaboration initiative, and iv) not have published collaborative/research work with any members of the proposed collaboration initiative in the past 5 years. 

Categories of iHASE-accreditation and benefits accorded to affiliated projects are as follows:

  • Independent or Intramural Projects:
    • Independent iHASE-accredited projects are funded mainly through independent fundraising efforts and implemented independently by the collaborative partnership;
    • Intramural iHASE-affiliated projects are funded mainly through joint/collaborative iHASE appeals for external funding with other iHASE-affiliated projects and are implemented under iHASE coordination in collaboration with an iHASE-affiliated faculty preceptor eligible for accreditation as a FCAE;
  • iHASE Collaboration Centers/Units/Groups:
    • An iHASE Collaboration Center is a collaboration partnerships conducting applied Epidemiology work in at least 3 iHASE core/focus areas and implementing at least 3 iHASE-accredited and/or iHASE-affiliated projects.
    • An iHASE Collaboration Unit is a collaboration partnerships conducting applied Epidemiology work in at least 2 iHASE core/focus areas and implementing no more than 2 iHASE-accredited and/or iHASE-affiliated projects.
    • An iHASE Collaboration Group is a collaboration partnerships conducting applied Epidemiology work in at least 2 iHASE core/focus areas and implementing no more than 1 iHASE-accredited and/or iHASE-affiliated projects.
 
Applied HIV Epidemiology Fellowship Program Timelines:
iHASE-accredited applied HIV Epidemiology training programs are tenable in iHASE-accredited or iHASE-affiliated projects hosted by iHASE Collaboration Centers/Units/Groups (iHASE-accredited academic-health agency collaboration) which offer a variety of custom-tailored fellowships, courses and seminar series for graduate students, recent graduates or established public health program staff who need continuing applied Epidemiology capacity development/training or technical support and are interested in the practice of applied public health Epidemiology at the state/provincial, district, local agency level (including non-governmental public health agencies). While the various programs provide rigorous training for participants, the programs are also designed with flexibility in order to meet the particular interests of the fellow and host-agency. Fellows are matched to host agencies (and preceptors) based on the career interests of the fellow and available opportunities at the host agency. Program participants will develop a comprehensive set of core skills through competency- and problem-based applied Epidemiology and public health mentored training outlined in the curriculum below.
 
Examples of Timelines of Short- and Long-term Fellowships
The examples of timelines outlined below indicate how trainees/ fellows will receive on-the-job training at a state/provincial, district or local public health or community partner-agency under the guidance of an experienced preceptor.
 

Short-Term Fellowship Program 

(3-6 months)

Long-Term Fellowship Program 

(12-24 months)
  • Health Agency Placement: Following the "Plan of Action", the fellow and on-site preceptor will implement the project steps to complete the major required core activities. 
  • Depending on the length of the fellowship, every 1-3 months, the fellow and preceptor will be required to complete a brief progress report and confer with the academic preceptor and 2 external program reviewers (one academic and one applied) regarding the fellow's progress towards meeting the required core activities.
  • Short courses/lectures, seminars and tutorials: During the fellowship, topics of relevance to the core areas of focus of iHASE's collaborative applied HIV Epidemiology training will be covered as needed (see curriculum);
  • Final Report and Certificate: During the last month of the fellowship, fellows and their supervisor will submit a final report to 2 external program reviewers (one academic and one applied) that indicates how each competency was achieved, the fellow's perspective on the fellowship, and an evaluation of the fellow. A certificate from iHASE will then be awarded to fellows provided that all competencies are met with the concurrence of the program's external reviewers. 

 

  • Orientation: Within the first 3 months of the fellowship, all incoming fellows will participate in a six-day orientation course. The orientation course will cover various topics related to developing program competencies and will be taught by iHASE preceptor-epidemiologists and faculty at schools of public health.
  • Health Agency Placement: By the end of the third month of the fellowship, fellows will have prepared a proposed "Plan of Action" that will outline how the fellow will complete the major required core activities. The fellow and his or her preceptors should create the plan jointly and submit it for review to a panel of 2 iHASE-accredited external reviewers.
  • Short courses and seminars: During the fellowship, topics of relevance to the core areas of focus of iHASE's collaborative applied HIV Epidemiology training will be covered as needed (see curriculum);
  • Depending on the length of the fellowship, every 3-6 months, the fellow and preceptor will be required to complete a progress report regarding the fellow's progress towards meeting the required core activities. and confer with the 2 external program reviewers (one academic and one applied). In addition, each fellow must submit a brief quarterly report highlighting his or her work experience thus far.
  • Final Report and Certificate: During the last month of the fellowship, fellows and their supervisors will submit a final report that indicates how each competency was achieved, the fellow's perspective on the fellowship, and an evaluation of the fellow. A certificate from iHASE will then be awarded to fellows provided that all competencies are met with the concurrence of the program's external reviewers.