Public Health Informatics at APL: Guest Editor's Introduction

Public health agencies are increasingly asked to provide new services to their communities with limited resources. With the rapid spread of highly communicable diseases, public health officials are faced with the challenge of knowing the health status of their jurisdictions, as well as having worldwide knowledge of diseases that quickly could be present in their communities. Informatics is playing an increasing role in providing health agencies with the tools needed to meet these challenges. This issue of the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest highlights recent investigations conducted within the Center of Excellence in Public Health Informatics located at APL.