APPLICATIONS DUE OCTOBER 1, 2013 John J. Guzewich Environmental Public Health Team Award

Published: September 15, 2013

Applications Due October 1st

John J. Guzewich Environmental Public Health Team Award

Purpose

The purpose of the award is to recognize and support the role of local, state, tribal and territorial environmental public health departments in protecting their communities as well as the national food safety system from foodborne illness and to encourage innovative programs and best practices to prevent the occurrence of foodborne illnesses.

Who to Nominate

Individuals or local, state, tribal or territorial environmental public health jurisdictions that have demonstrated exceptional collaboration and multidisciplinary teamwork in detection, response and/or prevention of foodborne illness in 2012/2013 are eligible. Teamwork is defined as integration, communication and collaboration of all involved parties in the foodborne illness outbreak investigation. Individuals and groups who have developed and implemented process or procedures to reduce future foodborne illness are also eligible.

How to Nominate

Applications should include (1) the name, job title, and affiliation of the candidate; (2) name, job title, and affiliation of nominator, and (3) a concise statement of the reason for nomination (300 words or less).

Nominations are due on October 1 and should be sent by email to Ginny Coyle, gcoyle@neha.org, 866-956-2258 x 346

About

The award will be presented at the InFORM (Integrated Foodborne Outbreak Response and Management) Conference to be held in San Antonio, Texas on November 18-21, 2013. InFORM is an avenue to support the integration, education, collaboration, and communication between the three disciplines with responsibility for foodborne illness investigations: laboratory, epidemiology, and EPH.

The award is named forJohn J. Guzewich (Jack) who retired from the FDA Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition in 2011. He was Senior Advisor for Environmental Health in the Office of Food Defense, Communication and Emergency Response. Jack worked on a number of special projects including enhancing relations with federal, state and local government partners, CFSAN's produce safety initiative, the Council to Improve Foodborne Outbreak Response (CIFOR) and implementation of environmental assessments at FDA. Prior to this role Jack was the CFSAN Center Emergency Coordinator. Jack previously worked for the New York State Department of Health where he was the lead for foodborne disease outbreak surveillance, food service establishment regulation and training officer for environmental health staff in the state. Jack has a Master of Public Health degree from the University of Minnesota. He is on the editorial board of the Journal of Environmental Health. He is a Past President of the International Association for Food Protection and is active on the Communicable Disease Committee as well as the convener of symposia at the annual meetings. He is a member the National Environmental Health Association and the Association of Food and Drug Officials.