Disease intervention specialists play an essential role in the United States public health system. Sometimes called “disease detectives,” these highly specialized professionals work on the front lines of public health, tracing outbreaks to their source, conducting in-depth interviews during investigations, and helping slow the spread of infectious diseases by connecting people to testing, treatment, and other care services.

While disease intervention specialists play an important role in protecting public health, their role is often not well understood. New research conducted at the University of Minnesota aims to address these gaps by clearly identifying the unique skills and occupational roles of disease intervention specialists. To do so, the research team analyzed nearly 9,000 U.S. job postings published between July 2022 and February 2023. Using a national employment database called Lightcast, they compared the skills listed for disease intervention specialists, community health workers, and epidemiologists, closely examining each posting to identify meaningful differences in skill requirements across the three roles.

The study, published in Public Health Reports, found:

• Disease intervention specialists have a distinct infectious-disease focus. Job postings for disease intervention specialists were significantly more likely than those for community health workers or epidemiologists to require skills related to communicable disease control, infectious disease knowledge, and disease prevention.
• A greater focus on hands-on case management. Compared with other public health roles, disease intervention specialist positions more frequently emphasized skills such as case management, investigation, interviewing, and contact tracing.
• Job postings for disease intervention specialists featured unique, specialized skills. Several competencies appeared almost exclusively in disease intervention specialist job postings, including sexually-transmitted infection prevention, HIV risk reduction, contact tracing, specimen collection, and phlebotomy

“For many years, disease intervention specialists have played a critical yet often overlooked role in controlling the spread of infectious diseases such as HIV, syphilis, tuberculosis, and hepatitis,” said Janette Dill, SPH associate professor and lead author. “Our findings show that these professionals occupy a distinct and important position in the public health workforce. Disease intervention specialists are uniquely qualified to respond to ongoing and emerging communicable disease threats, and better identifying and measuring this workforce will strengthen the nation’s public health infrastructure.”

The study recommends future research to more accurately quantify the size of the disease intervention specialist workforce. The researchers also have advocated for the creation of a dedicated federal occupational classification for disease intervention specialists, a step they say would strengthen workforce planning and help stabilize funding for these essential public health professionals.