The National Center for Health Statistics actively supports university education, and this
page outlines some of the programs and resources at NCHS that are designed to help
facilitate the use of health statistics data in teaching and in research. We invite you to
refer to this site to receive updates about NCHS resources for university educators, to
contribute information about activities at your school, and to communicate with your
colleagues at other universities.
NCHS
University Visitation Program Now in its 19th year, this program continues to foster communication between NCHS
and the university community through lectures and presentations by NCHS staff.
Presentations cover the programs, surveys, activities, and data of NCHS; and they are
appropriate for university classes, seminars, or special programs.
NCHS Electronic Data
Dissemination Program
Through this program with schools of public health and other institutions, NCHS provides
free data tapes, diskettes, and CD-ROMs for faculty and students. Schools in turn agree to
promote the availability of NCHS data and to report to us on their use of our data in
teaching and research. To find out if your university is a member of this program-or
how it can become one-contact our Educator Information Exchange, at nchseducators@cdc.gov.
Training Module for Public Health
Practitioners
This course is designed to improve the ability of public health professionals to
understand and use data routinely in their jobs. While intended primarily for health
practitioners working in local and State health departments, the course may also be of use
to students and faculty. Three modules present case studies dramatizing public health
problems that can be addressed using data. The modules introduce the concept of
quantitative data and its value for public health, describe major types of data available
for analysis, and explore how these data are collected and analyzed and how they can be
used to assess and to meet public health needs.
Internships
and Research Fellowship Programs NCHS works in collaboration with theAmerican
Statistical Association, the Association of Schools of Public
Health, and other organizations to bridge the gap between academic scholars and the
governments health research programs. Interns and research fellows are provided with the
opportunity to work on methodological problems and analytic issues relevant to NCHS
programs. They work on research projects in residence at NCHS, use NCHS data and
facilities, and interact with the NCHS staff.
Research Data Center
NCHS has developed a Research Data Center (RDC) that allows researchers and data users to
access internal data files from its numerous surveys that have not been available to the
research community until now. The internal files contain lower levels of geography such as
State, county, census tract, block-group, or blocks, depending on the survey. Researchers
may use the files to merge other contextual data from the Census Bureau, the Area Resource
File, or other data collected or provided by the researcher to perform contextual analyses
while maintaining confidentiality. Prospective researchers must submit a research proposal
that will be reviewed for risk of disclosure, consistency with the NCHS mission,
availability of RDC resources, and the feasibility of the project.
Data
Users Conference
This Conference provides a forum for university students and faculty, as well as for
others from the public and private sector, to exchange information and experiences using
health statistics information. Our most recent Conference was held July 15-17,
2002, in
Washington, D.C.
Distance-Based
Learning Project with Association of Schools of Public Health
NCHS analysts, in collaboration with the Association of Schools of Public Health (ASPH),
presented a series of six lectures at George Washington University in the
spring of 2000. We
envision this as a prototype for a broader program of instruction that can be transmitted
electronically to schools of public health and other institutions.
Centers for Excellence in
Health Statistics
In 1999, the first Centers for Excellence in Health Statistics were funded by NCHS, for
the purpose of improving data collection systems to help develop and evaluate prevention
programs. Current projects include addressing statistical issues aimed at health promotion
and disease prevention in high-risk populations; addressing issues central to the field of
survey researchcognition, technology, and non-response; and developing methodology
that can be applied to issues such as the effects of smoking on public health and on
racial disparities in health status and outcomes.
Curriculum Materials
Look to this space for information products for use in course lectures, assignments, and
student research projects. Share your curriculum materials here for use by others.
Links to University Web Sites
Look to this space for links to resources developed by universities to promote the use of
health statistics information at their schools.
Educator Information Exchange
To provide a forum for support and discussion on the use of educational resource
materials, we have set up an educator information exchange.
nchs.forum.cdc.govis a lightly moderated
discussion group for commenting on the application of NCHS statistical information in
teaching and learning. This forum is intended for educators interested in sharing,
developing, and implementing instructional activities using NCHS data. We encourage
you to subscribe and participate!
To
subscribe to this forum, go to nchs.forum.cdc.gov. You will be assigned a
password and you will receive confirmation that you are subscribed.
After
you have subscribed, you may review correspondence by going to the forum at nchs.forum.cdc.gov. You may post messages by
sending a message to: nchseducators@cdc.gov.