LLU&MC Scope Autumn 2000

School of Public Health professor serves as panelist for CDC-sponsored satellite broadcast GIS course

Samuel Soret, PhD, speaks on the importance of GIS technologies to the field of public health during a CDC-sponsored satellite broadcast. Looking on is David T. Dyjack, PhD, associate professor and chair, environmental and occupational health, School of Public Health.

It wasn't that unusual for the School of Public Health geographic information system (GIS) students to view a course via satellite. With today's distance learning technology, such an occurrence is becoming quite routine. What was unusual for students in the GIS program was to see one of their own professors on the screen. Samuel Soret, PhD, assistant professor of environmental and occupational health, was one of four featured panelists for the course, "GIS in Public Health: Using Mapping and Spatial Analysis Technologies for Health Protection."

Beamed by satellite on May 11, the continuing education course was co-sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Dr. Soret's group of four panelist/experts talked about the impact of GIS technology on the public health profession.

GIS has become an important tool for helping public health professionals better understand health issues they encounter. The technology allows for a layering of information-health, demographic, environmental, and other sources of data-which graphically illustrates the relationships among the data.

The course was broadcast on Telstar 7, channel 8. Those watching were provided with toll-free numbers to call with questions and comments during the broadcast.

[Scope, Autumn 2000]