From cristal@ripco.com Wed May 27 18:16:59 1998 Received: from mxu4.u.washington.edu (mxu4.u.washington.edu [140.142.33.8]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.05) with ESMTP id SAA11210 for ; Wed, 27 May 1998 18:16:58 -0700 Received: from relay.ripco.com (relay.ripco.com [209.100.227.3]) by mxu4.u.washington.edu (8.8.4+UW97.07/8.8.4+UW97.09) with SMTP id SAA29924 for ; Wed, 27 May 1998 18:16:57 -0700 Received: (qmail 1582 invoked from network); 28 May 1998 01:17:06 -0000 Received: from morph.ripco.com (HELO cristal.ripco.com) (i23141@209.100.230.13) by relay.ripco.com with SMTP; 28 May 1998 01:17:06 -0000 Message-Id: <3.0.32.19980526213353.006b3c64@pop.ripco.com> X-Sender: cristal@pop.ripco.com (Unverified) X-Mailer: Windows Eudora Pro Version 3.0 (32) Date: Wed, 27 May 1998 20:12:28 -0500 To: waphgis@u.washington.edu From: "C.R.Simmons" Subject: New GIS user Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello, I ma interested in using GIS to analyze health information. I am currently working in the epidemiology program with the Chicago department of public health. We are currently using Map Info to produce thematic maps for our incidence and mortality rates. I am very excited about the wealth of information I am finding on the web and in the literature about using GIS with health information. I am planning to return to school for a doctorate degree. I currently have a MPH in maternal and child health. Since I am interested in GIS I want to design my doctorate around that area. I am seeking advice on how best to proceed. The University of Illinois in Chicago has a geography program that offers several courses in GIS. Since I want to stay in public health I think I will enroll in the school of public health and take classes in other colleges. How have you developed your expertise in the health/GIS field? Are you public health trained with an interest in GIS or are you GIS trained with an interest in public health. (I hope I Am not offending anyone with these questions.) I am not sure if this is a traditional public health field or if this is a traditional geography field. Are you epidemiologists or health planners? Does this make sense? (:D) I am planing on starting in 1999 so I have some time (not a lot) to think of the route I want to take. I know I want to take GIS classes, however. Any help you can share is greatly appreciated. Thanks Cristal R. Simmons .