Presenter: Andrew Ely, Public Health Science, Global Public Health Scholars
Since January of this year, I have worked as a research intern at the Center for Substance Abuse Research (CESAR) on campus, working on the Emergency Department Drug Surveillance (EDDS) project. This project retests previously positive urine samples from hospitals against a wider array of drugs to get a better understanding of drug use trends in various areas across the state and country. While there, I performed a variety of data management tasks like checking raw output against upcoming published figures, consulting reports from outside organizations to keep the drug panel updated, and managing various incoming information from participating sites. This gave me valuable experience working with large data sets, something that will help me in my future career aspirations. The work that EDDS does helps hospitals better respond to overdose patients in their emergency department, as they improve their understanding on the drug use trends in the surrounding area and what substance may be causing the reaction.