MediPIET Alumni Network meeting 2023
On 23 November 2023, ECDC organised the first face-to-face MediPIET Alumni Network meeting, which took place during the annual European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) in Barcelona, Spain.
The meeting was attended by MediPIET alumni, MediPIET fellows, MediPIET National Focal Points, supervisors, invited guests and ECDC staff.
The event provided an excellent opportunity to look back at the 10-year history of MediPIET, discuss the historical challenges and lessons learned, and exchange ideas and input on the future scope and purpose of the alumni network, its membership, and potential activities in support of the MediPIET programme. Participants also discussed how to increase the visibility of MediPIET across countries and regions going forward.
The meeting was hosted by ECDC and the MediPIET alumni committee, consisting of representatives from each graduated MediPIET cohort. It included presentations from representatives of the MediPIET Training Centres Forum, the EPIET alumni network (EAN), and ECDC staff.
The MediPIET Alumni Network aims not only to develop and maintain a strong community of regional public health experts but also to contribute to the sustainability of the MediPIET programme in the future through contribution to MediPIET modules, supporting fellows in training (e.g. supervision and mentoring) and keeping the curricular content relevant through incorporating specific regional focus (e.g. development of case studies from MediPIET partner countries).
Alumni are also envisioned to become ‘ambassadors’ of the MediPIET programme in their home countries and professional networks. The MediPIET Alumni Network is foreseen to constitute a key source of expertise in public health and field epidemiology in the MediPIET region and beyond.
Background: MediPIET
The Mediterranean and Black Sea Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET) is a training programme aimed at enhancing health security in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea region by supporting capacity-building for the prevention and control of natural or man-made threats to health posed by communicable diseases, through the implementation of a long-term regional Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP), Training of Trainers activities, an annual scientific event, and other networking activities.
The MediPIET programme was set up in 2013 at the initiative of the European Commission and has since 2021 been implemented by ECDC under the EU Initiative on Health Security (ENI/2020/415-420). One of the programme’s deliverables is to set up MediPIET Alumni Network in support of the programme’s long-term sustainability.
European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology (ESCAIDE) website
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