Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre, National Public Health Service for Wales, Cardiff, UK
Contact person
Dr Meirion EvansCommunicable Disease Surveillance Centre/
National Public Health Service for Wales (NPHS)
Temple of Peace and Health, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NW, United Kingdom
Tel +44 29 2040 2471
Fax +44 29 2040 2506
Description of institute
The National Public Health Service for Wales is an integrated public health, epidemiology and microbiology service. It includes an infection and communicable disease service that comprises CDSC Wales and a network of health protection teams, microbiology laboratories and hospital infection control teams across Wales.The Centre provides informatics support to NPHS and possesses a highly skilled informatics team with longstanding experience of developing information systems in support of communicable disease control.
The staff at CDSC Wales includes three consultant medical epidemiologists (Dr Roland Salmon (director), Dr Meirion Evans and Dr Brendan Mason), several post-doctoral scientists, an information technology team, and scientific and administrative support staff. The centre also often hosts one or two trainee doctors in public health medicine, microbiology, and occasionally other disciplines for attachments of three months or more.
Close links also exist with the Department of Primary Care & Public Health at Cardiff University which has a strong research interest in the epidemiology of common infections and antimicrobial resistance. Dr Meirion Evans is a senior lecturer in the department
CDSC Wales also collaborates closely with the epidemiology services of the Health Protection Agency in London, the English regions and Northern Ireland. There are also good working links with Health Protection Scotland and several other centres in Europe with national responsibility for infectious diseases surveillance and control.
Training opportunities
CDSC Wales has a long track record of successful field investigations. It has an excellent network of colleagues in public health and environmental health departments that provides easy access for fellows to participate in local outbreak investigations and to conduct field studies.There are several opportunities for evaluating surveillance systems including a general practice sentinel scheme, comprehensive laboratory reporting scheme and schemes for surveillance of hospital infection and surgical site infection. Work is in progress to improve surveillance of sexually transmitted infection and hepatitis C.
Current research interests at CDSC Wales include a trial on antibiotic prescribing and antibiotic resistance in the community, participation in the Second UK Infectious Intestinal Disease Study, surveillance of hospital infection, sexually transmitted infection, and epidemiology of zoonoses
The director CDSC Wales is advisor to the Welsh Assembly Government on infectious disease issues. Fellows may therefore have an opportunity to be involved in public health decision analysis at the national policy level.
Cardiff University offers a Masters in Public Health programme and fellows may have an opportunity to teach on this, or to take part in specific modules as appropriate.
The fellow will be encouraged to participate in training of professional colleagues and to present his/her work.
Training supervision
Supervision will be under the direction of a consultant epidemiologist: Dr Meirion Evans.Language requirements
English language will be required.Training history
Number of EPIET fellows trained at institute: Six (1996, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2004, 2006)Number of EPIET alumni working at institute: One
Available as a training site for cohort 14: Yes