Hi from Massachusetts!

Hello everyone, my name is Amy Bettano and I'm from the Massachusetts' Department of Public Health (MDPH). I got my MPH from Boston University in 2012 and have been working as an Epidemiologist ever since - the first 2 years for the US Air Force and the last 7 years for MDPH. I'm a Senior Epidemiologist at MDPH working in Special Analytic Projects. My main work is on the state's Public Health Data Warehouse, which contains data from over 20 different state data sets across 2011-2019. My project's focus is utilizing the various data sets to capture disability status. Specifically we would like to determine how the opioid epidemic has impacted residents identified as having a disability, whether they are receiving the same access to and quality of care as other residents, and also look at their outcomes over time. I hope this program will enhance my decision-making skills by expanding my understanding of the components of a managed project that a leader oversees as well as to help me gain more opportunities for program leadership within MDPH. I believe that being placed in a group of other individuals who are similarly driven and have epidemiologic backgrounds would provide the opportunity to learn from them while also building my confidence in my abilities as a leader.