NWCPHP Timeline
This timeline was created for NWCPHP's 20th anniversary in 2010. It reflects some of the important events throughout our history. You may search by year, or scroll through the entire timeline. If there is something you would like to see added to this chronological listing of events, please contact us.
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
Pre-1990
1987 – The Future of Public Health report by the Institute of Medicine.
April 6, 1989 – Panel discussion at University of Washington School of Public Health school-wide faculty meeting focusing on public health practice.
June 5, 1989 – Follow up work group from April 6th & April 26th on education/training for public health practice. Ninety-two people show up from University of Washington, Washington, and Oregon health agencies.
1990
July 1, 1990 – NWCPHP founded by SPHCM, Dr. Mark Oberle, a faculty member in both the Departments of Epidemiology and Health Services. NWCPHP first grant is awarded from Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).
1990 – Mark Oberle, NWCPHP Director
September 9-11, 1990 – NWCPHP developed several educational tracks (community analysis, hepatitis C, health care access issues, illegal drug labs) for a joint conference of the Washington State and Oregon Public Health Associations.
October 24-25, 1990 –NWCPHP cooperated closely with the WA State Epidemiologist to conduct a major two-day course in Yakima for local, state and federal public health personnel covering recent developments in the epidemiology and control of infectious diseases; 236 participants.
July 1-December 31, 1990 -
-Conducted a coordinated continuing education needs assessment of 898 public health practitioners in the Northwest.
-Assisted the Washington State Dept. of Health in developing a credit, home study course, Lyme Disease: A Guide for Washington Physicians, to clarify clinician's misunderstanding about the disease.
1990 – Developed faculty/agency exchange; three faculty members served as part-time local health officers in Washington while several community based health officers have affiliate faculty appointments and regularly participate in teaching.
1990 – NWCPHP employs full time minority student coordinator to implement a school-wide minority affairs program to improve the recruitment and retention of minority students.
1990 – Delivered four offerings at the joint annual conference of the Oregon & Washington State Public Health Associations.
1991
1991 – Jesse Tapp, NWCPHP Director
March 13-15, May 15-17, and June 17-18, 1991 - Conducted a 3-part epidemiology course on epidemiology and chronic disease prevention for public health practitioners with the Montana State Department of Health and Environment.
July 22 – August 2, 1991 – First Annual Summer Institute of Public Health Practice.
November 1991 – Co-sponsored Washington State Health Data Users Conference, focused on improving the quality of Washington State health data and to support their use by local health departments.
1991 - Worked with the state associations of cities and county officials in identifying and meeting the needs felt by local board of health members for orientation and information regarding their public health responsibilities, funded by 3-yr HRSA special project grant.
1991 - NWCPHP promotes practica for all UW SPH Master of Public Health (MPH) students (previously required only for students in MCH, SBS, and Preventive Medicine tracks) in order to provide more and better linkages between the School and a variety of public health practice settings. Also ran a Practicum Placement program to assist students in identifying suitable practicum opportunities and liaising with practicum sites.
1991 – Began 3-year project (funded by HSRA special project grant) to work with state associations of cities and county officials in identifying and meeting the needs of local health board members. Developed materials to orient and educate health board membersabout their responsibilities.
1992
1992-96 – Jim Gale, NWCPHP Director
May 27, 1992 – Group of people from UW and local health departments met to discuss initiation of Public Health Grand Rounds series, to be arranged by NWCPHP.
July 12-24, 1992 – 2nd Annual Summer Institute of Public Health Practice.
November 3, 1992 – Start of Public Health Grand Rounds. First one: “Childhood Lead Poisoning: A Northwest Perspective.”
1993
January 26, 1993 – Public Health Grand Rounds: SIDS & Infant Sleeping Position seminar.
February 23, 1993 – Public Health Grand Rounds on Tobacco Control.
April 15, 1993 – Began working on a video training module, Understanding Public Health, to illustrate the three core functions of public health using historical and current examples. Funded by CDC & ASPH.
May 25, 1993 – Public Health Grand Rounds on E. coli outbreaks.
July 12-23, 1993 – 3rd Annual Summer Institute of Public Health Practice.
Fall 1993 – Public Health Grand Rounds on MDR-TB
December 1993 – NWCPHP provided staff support for the conference, “Reduce the Violence,” which was sponsored by the Cross-Cultural Health Care Program at Pacific Medical Center, a group participating in the Community-Based Public Health Initiative funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.
December 1993 – NWCPHP featured in American Journal of Public Health “Notes from the Field” section.
1993 – Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak investigation
1993 – NWCPHP facilitated Peer Assistance Network among local health departments through staff time and making available CDC/ASPH funding for health agency staff to help other agencies.
1993 - Health Reform in WA - money for Public Health, and NWCPHP was able to use this funding for training.
1993 - The University of Illinois at Chicago, through a special projects grant from the Health Resources and Services Agency (HRSA), has awarded the Center a grant to enhance the assessment capabilities of local health departments in Washington state.
1993 – NWCPHP awarded grant, through a CDC/ASPH cooperative agreement, to document the health system reform process in Washington state and the role of public health in that process.
1993 - Produced 22 minute video entitled “Public Health: The Invisible Safety Net – Infrastructure of American Health.” Distributed to all health departments in Washington, shown to several introductory public health classes @ University of Washington and University of California-Berkeley, Washington State Public Health Association meeting, and 40-member staff of a Washington rural health department.
1994
July 11-22, 1994 – 4th Annual Summer Institute of Public Health Practice
Winter 1994 – Public Health Grand Rounds: “Health System Reform: Public Health as Leader or Follower?”
1995
1995 – Jack Thompson provided report to the UW School of Public Health Dean outlining the NWCPHP and practice needs, saying there is still a lack of UW presence in practice
1995-1997 – The State Department of Health provided $500,000 in Public Health Improvement Plan funds to the NWCPHP to conduct public health workforce training
1996
1996 - Jim Gale, NWCPHP Co-Director
1996 – Patrick O’Carroll, NWCPHP Co-Director
January 1996 – Published "Welcome to Public Health! A Guidebook for Local Board of Health Members." It was a collaborative project with NWCPHP & Washington State Board of Health. Also references The Reference Manual for Local Boards of Health as a companion to the guidebook and NWCPHP’s video: Public Health, the Invisible Safety Net – Infrastructure of American Health.
June 1996 – NWCPHP sponsors workshop entitled, “Designing Effective Surveys” in Wenatchee. Evaluation results indicate 33 of 34 rating it as excellent.
July 15-26, 1996 – 6th Annual Summer Institute of Public Health Practice
November 4, 1996 – Odwalla apple juice sample tested positive for E. coli; NWCPHP reported headline on “Public Health Times,” an online public health news digest.
November 18, 1996 – Seven confirmed cases to date of influenza A, H3N2 in western WA; NWCPHP reported headline on “Public Health Times,” an online public health news digest.
December 11, 1996 – Washington Information Network for Public Health Officials (INPHO) Stage II grant awarded to NWCPHP by CDC Foundation.
1996 – Designed and conducted continuing education course, “Public Health Administration and Management,” which reached senior level management of every local health jurisdiction in Washington State.
1996 – Entered into a new partnership with the Washington Department of Health, Washington State Association of Local Public Health Officials (WSALPHO), and UW SPH to expand the reach and effectiveness of the NWCPHP.
1997
1997-1998 – Patrick O’Carroll, NWCPHP Director
January 1997 – Washington Information Network for Public Health Officials (INPHO) II launched. It is based at NWCPHP in collaboration with Washington Department of Health and CDC.
April - November 1997 – surveyed community/public health professionals in Washington State to profile the workforce and delineate their training needs. A mail questionnaire was sent to 2,349 professional employees of the Washington Department of Health, local health departments, and community, migrant, and Indian clinics in WA with an overall response rate of fifty-six percent. Most highly rated training needs were communication skills.
Summer 1997 – Through NWCPHP’s work on the INPHO I project, Washington achieves widespread connectivity in and to its county health departments by building LANs in health departments and connecting them via a T-1 network. Quote from report: “Internet connectivity and email are now universal.”
December 1997 – WA INPHO website completed. It has searchable links to public health resources, including journals and prevention information. NWCPHP website expands on INPHO site with up-to-the-minute public health news and a calendar of meetings and training opportunities.
1996-1997 – NWCPHP developed and delivered Informatics Training for CDC Public Health Advisors, a 20-hour course designed for mid-career public health managers; part of INPHO II project.
1997 – Developed and delivered Informatics and Public Health, a 10-hour course designed for a general public health audience; part of INPHO II project.
1997 – Created Graduate Certificate Program in Public Health.
1997 – NWCPHP website developed.
1997 - Developed listservs for Washington’s senior public health officials, for assessment coordinators, for people interested in geographic information systems for public health, a Youth Suicide Prevention project, for the Emerging Infections Network of the Infectious Disease Society of America, for the APEC Emerging Infections Telecommunications Network, and for the Public Health Training Network.
1997 - Launched APEC Emerging Infections Network, which used an array of information technologies to increase communication and data exchange among scientists in the Asia-Pacific region working to control emerging or re-emerging infectious diseases.
1997 – NWCPHP became a member of the Advisory Committee for the Center for the Advancement of Community Health, an Eastern Washington public health initiative located at Washington State University.
1998
1998 – UW SPH housed Turning Point, a national initiative. Bud Nicola placed at UW from CDC was with Turning Point.
1999
1999 – Jim Gale, NWCPHP Director
1999 – Our new Dean, Pat Wahl, begins visiting all Washington local health jurisdictions.
1999 – Patrick O’Carroll returns to NWCPHP; NWCPHP becomes leader in evaluation, informatics, national competencies.
1999-2008 – Jack Thompson, NWCPHP Director
2000
2000 – NWCPHP became a Center for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) through grant from CDC and Associated Schools of Public Health.
2000- NWCPHP became Public Health Training Center (PHTC) through HSRA grant. NWCPHP & University of North Carolina only two locations to receive PHTC & CPHP grant.
2000 – Created NWCPHP Regional Network Steering Committee (RNSC), which includes Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington, Wyoming.
2000 - Established the Northwest Regional Network for Public Health Workforce Development; Jack Thompson co-chairs.
2001
June 11-15, 2001 – Summer Institute for Public Health Practice.
September 11, 2001 – Public Health Training Center meeting in Athens, GA. NWCPHP participants, including Mark Oberle and Jack Thompson couldn’t get flight back to Seattle. Obviously, 9/11 resulted in tremendous change in public health. CDC Emergency preparedness funding for NWCPHP went from $600,000 to 1.2 million per year.
2001-2002 – NWCPHP (Patrick O’Carroll and Mark Oberle) involved in a national working group of public health informaticians and educators to draft a consensus set of public health informatics competencies.
2001 – Developed new curricula: “Hands on Training for Public Health Emergencies,” “Building Community Partnerships to Respond to Public Health Issues,” “Leading and Managing the Change Process,” and “Strategies for Success: How to Tell if you are Making a Difference through Program Evaluation.”
2002
January 2002 – Completed first Northwest Regional Public Health Workforce Assessment Report.
June 2002 – First Montana Public Health Summer Institute.
August 18-20, 2002 - Alaska Public Health Training Institute
September 9-13, 2002 – Conducted Northwest Institute for Public Health Practice (this was NWCPHP's Summer Institute for this year in response to 9/11 of the previous year). It was a 5 day in-residence training for 96 public health workers about basic public health and emergency preparedness.
October 2002 - Facilitated process between University of Washington and Northwest Indian College (NWIC) in Bellingham, Washington to establish a Memorandum of Understanding for joint undergraduate degree program in Environmental Health.
2002 – Responding to and Preparing for Bioterrorism: Information for Primary Care Clinicians training materials developed in response to anthrax attacks.
2002 – Initiated the Epidemiology Competencies Project, with the goal of developing competency-based epidemiology training for non-epidemiologist public health practitioners in the Northwest.
2002 – Established Northwest Regional Public Health Workforce Development Network in order to increase access to training resources.
2002 – First Alaska Public Health Institute held.
2003
April 2003-May 2004 – First cohort of Northwest Public Health Leadership Institute scholars.
June 2003 – Montana Public Health Summer Institute.
June 21, 2003 – Conducted 1-day in-person workshop, “Integrating Environmental Health into Public Health Nursing," taught by Patricia Butterfield & Carl Osaki; 23 attendees.
August 2003 - Idaho Public Health Summer Institute.
August 4-8, 2003 – Summer Institute for Public Health Practice: “Public Health Preparedness: Tools for the Frontline.”
September 15-17, 2003:
- Conducted 2.5-day in-person interactive workshop, “Public Health Epidemiology Methods and Concepts – Intermediate Level” at the 2nd Annual Alaska Public Health Training Institute. This course was developed based on feedback from the 1st AK Institute held in 2002.
- Conducted 2.5-day in-person interactive workshop, “Leading & Managing Change in the Community” at the 2nd Annual Alaska Public Health Training Institute. Conducted by Jeremy Sappington.
October 2003 – Established formal partnership with the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board (NPAIHB). NPAIHB joined NWCPHP's Regional Network Steering Committee (RNSC) to improve NWCPHP’s service to tribal nations within the region.
2003 – Montana state partners acknowledged the NWCPHP’s contributions and partnership with the Montana Public Health Association’s 2003 President’s Award “in recognition and appreciation for providing training and support to our public health improvement and workforce development efforts.”
2004
April 27, 2004 – First Hot Topics In Preparedness session, “Preparing for SARS.”
May 18, 2004 - NWCPHP faculty member Dennis Stillman presented “Public Health Leadership” at the 3rd Annual Wyoming Public Health Leadership Institute.
June 7-11, 2004 – Played lead role in Montana Summer Institute for Public Health.
August 2-6, 2004 – Summer Institute for Public Health Practice.
September 16-17, 2004 – Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference in Portland, Oregon.
September 28-30, 2004 – Played lead role in Alaska Public Health Training Institute.
November 2004 – Co-sponsored Washington’s annual American Indian Health Summit at the Skagit Reservation.
December 26, 2004 – First Director Mark Oberle provides first aid in the tsunami hit Patong Beach in Thailand.
2004 – Carl Osaki developed training module for use by local health departments on essential services of environmental health, available on CD-ROM.
2005
April 2005 - Alaska Public Health Training Institute.
June 2005 - Montana Public Health Summer Institute.
September 15-16, 2005 – Assisted with the Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference at Spokane, Washington.
November 2005 – Carl Osaki travels to Beijing at the request of Chinese health officials to provide information on conducting environmental health assessments; officials intended to use information to assess environmental health issues relating to 2008 Summer Olympics.
2005 – NWCPHP redesigns its website.
2005 – HRSA Public Health Training Center (PHTC) grant is renewed.
2005 - NWCPHP conducted assessment of Emergency Response Preparedness among Oregon State and local employees.
2005 – NWCPHP received CDC grant to house Regional Academic Environmental Public Health Center (RAEPHC).
2005 – RAND Health showcases Carl Osaki’s exercise Bioterrorist Attack on Food: A Tabletop Exercise on their website after favorable evaluations from when it was conducted in August 2001.
2006
Early 2006 – Carl Osaki teaches at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium’s (ANTHC) Department of Environmental Health Support (DES) two day training class on environmental health.
May 23-25, 2006 – Wyoming Public Health Institute.
June 12-16, 2006 – Montana Public Health Summer Institute.
August 3-4, 2006 – Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference in Seattle, Washington.
August 21-25, 2006 - 15th annual Summer Institute for Public Health Practice
October 2006 – Online training course “Emergency Risk Communication for Public Health Professionals” receives 2006 Gold Award for Excellence in Public Health Communication from the National Public Health Coalition (HRSA funded).
October 2006 – Co-sponsored Annual Oregon Public Health Conference (formerly Public Health Institute).
2007
February 6-8, 2007 – Oregon Public Health Conference
June 11-15, 2007 – Montana Summer Public Health Training Institute
July 2007 – PH LearnLink was launched
August 7-9, 2007 - Wyoming Public Health Institute
August 9-10, 2007 – Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference in Portland, Oregon
August 13-17, 2007 - 16th Annual Summer Institute for Public Health Practice
November 28, 2007 – Regional Health Directors Meeting – one-time meeting with all health directors from our region to find out what NWCPHP has done well for them and suggestions for the future.
2007 – Chuck Treser wins John P. Nordin Outstanding Sanitarian award from the Washington State Environmental Association.
2007 – Betty Bekemeier launches new advanced practice environmental health nursing certificate program.
2007 – NWCPHP receives HHS grant to partner with Seattle King County Public Health in Health Care Facilities Partnership Program. Program intended to strengthen the healthcare system for emergencies.
2007 - NWCPHP awarded a one year training grant for public health nursing to ensure that the current public health nursing workforce is adequately trained to provide public health essential services and core functions.
2008
March 3-5, 2008 – NWCPHP co-sponsors the Oregon Public Health Workforce Development conference.
May 2008 – Wyoming Public Health Leadership Workshop.
June 9-13, 2008 – NWCPHP co-sponsors Montana Public Health Summer Institute.
July 15, 2008 – Susan Allan, NWCPHP Director
July 23-24, 2008 – Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference in Umatilla, Oregon.
August 11-15, 2008 - 17th Annual Summer Institute for Public Health Practice
September 4-5, 2008 – Chuck Treser delivers “Essentials for Healthy Homes Practitioners” in Billings, Montana.
December 1-3, 2008 - Annual Alaska Public Health Summit.
December 10-11, 2008 - “Essentials for Healthy Homes Practitioners” course in Hood River, Oregon.
2008 – Partnered with Seattle King County Public Health to develop online workbook, “Business Resiliency for Health Care Providers,” which helps non-hospital health care providers (nursing homes and mental health clinics) plan for emergencies so that they can continue to provide services during disasters.
2008 - Assumed responsibility for Northwest Public Health journal, the semi-annual journal of the School of Public Health at the University of Washington.
2008 – Received CDC grant to create the Northwest Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center to determine the best way to reach health care providers and vulnerable populations with critical information for emergency situations.
2008 – Partnered with Washington Department of Health to develop series of five online modules, “Basic Concepts in Data Analysis for Community Health Assessment.”
2009
June 15-19, 2009 – Montana Summer Institute.
July 28-29, 2009 – Tribal Emergency Preparedness Conference.
August 10-12, 2009 – Northwest Public Health Leadership Institute.
August 10-14, 2009 – 18th Annual Summer Institute for Public Health Practice.
August 25-26, 2009 – Oregon Public Health Workforce Development conference.
September 22-24, 2009 – Wyoming Public Health Association Annual Education Conference.
December 7-9, 2009 – Alaska Health Summit.
2009 – NWCPHP receives APEX award of excellence, a nationwide program that recognizes excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and communications effectiveness for the Northwest Public Health journal's fall/winter 2008 issue, “Climate Change: Challenging Public Health.”
2010
January 2010 - kick-off of 20th Anniversary Celebration. NWCPHP turns 20!
