Matthew Cartter, MD, MPH is CSTE 2010 “Pump Handle Award” Recipient

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE            Connecticut Department of Public Health

June 14, 2010                                           Contact: William Gerrish

                                                                 (860) 509-7270

Hartford – A Connecticut physician and public health expert has earned top national recognition from the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). The organization representing disease detectives from across the United States and U.S. territories today presented Matthew Cartter, MD, MPH with its 2010 “Pump Handle” Award to acknowledge his extraordinary contributions to the field of applied epidemiology and outstanding professional achievements on the local, state, national and international levels.

“Matthew Cartter exemplifies the best in public health epidemiology, and his career is a testament to how much the contributions of a single dedicated person can change the public’s health for the better,” Dr. J. Robert Galvin, Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health said. “We are pleased and honored Dr. Cartter was chosen to receive CSTE’s highest honor.”

Dr. Cartter is an exceptional public health practitioner with outstanding performance as a state epidemiologist. He has had enormous influence on national public health policy and is renowned for his work on Lyme disease and influenza epidemiology. Dr. Cartter was an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer from 1983 to 1985 following his medical residency at the Rhode Island Hospital. He is an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and an associate clinical professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at the Yale University School of Medicine. Dr. Cartter has served twice as President of CSTE and shown exceptional national leadership on many issues including pandemic influenza, rabies, West Nile Virus, and other emerging diseases.

The Pump Handle Award presentation is part of the CSTE 2010 Annual Conference, currently underway in Portland, Oregon. The Pump Handle Award is the most prestigious award for applied epidemiology in the country. It commemorates the actions of Dr. John Snow, a 19^th century physician and the “Father of Applied Epidemiology” who ended a cholera epidemic in an English village by removing the pump handle from a contaminated well.

CSTE is an organization of Member States and Territories and represents the perspective of epidemiologists working in state and local governments in matters related to the practice of public health.  It is also a professional association of over 1,150 public health epidemiologists working in federal, state, local, and tribal health agencies, and U.S. territories. CSTE works to establish more effective working relationships among state and federal agencies and with other public health agencies. It also provides technical advice and assistance to partner organizations, such as the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), and to federal public health agencies such as CDC.

Dr. Cartter is a resident of West Hartford, where he resides with his wife and two daughters. He has been with the Connecticut Department of Public Health for 25 years.

For more information about the conference please contact Lauren Robinson at (404) 216-9885 or send an email to lrobinson@cste.org.

The Connecticut Department of Public Health is the state’s leader in public health policy and advocacy with a mission to protect and promote the health and safety of the people of our state.  To contact the department, please visit its website at www.ct.gov/dph or call (860) 509-7270.

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