Working in Clark County, a brief profile of interesting Clark County business owners or a worker in the public, private, or nonprofit sector. Send ideas to Kay Richardson:
kay.richardson@columbian.com; fax 360-735-4598; phone 360-735-4550.
“Epidemiology is not a hard-and-fast science,” says Melanie Payne, who works as an epidemiologist for Clark County Public Health. “It’s both art and science — not so much about just crunching numbers, but asking what they mean for who is requesting the information,” she says. Payne often works in collaborative teams who gather data, lay out all the pieces like a puzzle, then make sense of them, prioritize them and set goals to address health issues. It’s no wonder, she says, that those who work in the field are sometimes called “disease detectives.”
Name: Melanie Payne.
Residence neighborhood: Hazel Dell.
Employer: Clark County Public Health, www.clark.wa.gov/public-health/index.asp
Age: 44.
Educational/professional background: I have worked as an epidemiologist in the field of public health for over 20 years at federal, state, and local government agencies. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in biology and a Master of Public Health. Epidemiologists investigate the patterns and causes of disease and injury in populations to inform policy decisions and program activities. In other words, it tells us what’s wrong or right healthwise, where, and in what populations. The topics I work on vary from broad surveys looking at health risks and behaviors to specific issues such as maternal and child health, injuries, and chronic disease prevention.