Published 04 January 2011
The Public Health Dynamics Laboratory hosted the 3rd Annual NIH-CDC Institute on Systems Science and Health (ISSH) at the University of Pittsburgh, May 22-27, 2011. ISSH 2011 was a week-long course providing a thorough introduction to selected systems science methodologies that may be used to study behavioral and social dimensions of public health challenges.
After a highly competitive applications process, 45 participants were selected for one of the following three tracks:
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Agent-Based Modeling (led by John Grefenstette, Shawn Brown, and Bruce Lee, University of Pittsburgh)
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System Dynamics Modeling (led by Hazhir Rahmandad, Virginia Tech)
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Network Analysis (led by Steve Borgatti, University of Kentucky)
The participants spent six days in Pittsburgh, participating in intensive small-group training sessions and attending lectures from leading researchers on a variety of topics pertaining to systems science. The objective of ISSH is to provide training for investigators who have had little or no formal training in systems science gain a base of knowledge that will enable them to develop proposals to the NIH and CDC for research projects to improve population health and health equity.
ISSH is sponsored by the NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research in partnership with the CDC Syndemics Prevention Network. For further information, see the ISSH web site or contact: Patty Mabry, NIH Office of Behavioral and Social Science Research (mabryp@od.nih.gov; 301-402-1753).