Today, the University of Minnesota, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), and the Minnesota Electronic Health Records Consortium (MNHERC) launched a new center that will develop and test analytic tools that allow decision makers to compare the impact of different policy options on public health during a disease outbreak. The Midwest Analytics and Disease Modeling Center (MADMC) will incorporate and build on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic so the nation is better prepared to act quickly in response to an emerging public health threat.

MADMC will serve the Midwest as a member of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) first ever national network for outbreak analytics and disease modeling. As part of the CDC’s national Insight Net network, MADMC will develop modeling and analytic infrastructure so that the Midwest, and the nation, will be better able to obtain and analyze data to forecast public health options. The center will also offer technical assistance to state, local, Tribal, and territorial public health departments in the Midwest to help them prepare for, and respond to, a public health emergency.

MADMC will be run by three co-principal investigators: Eva Enns, associate professor at the UMN School of Public Health (SPH); R. Adams Dudley, a professor in the UMN Medical School, Institute for Health Informatics, and SPH; and Kristin Sweet, manager, Infectious Disease Cross-Cutting Epidemiology, Programs, and Partnerships at MDH. As a partner organization ofMADMC, the Minnesota Electronic Health Records Consortium will provide data from the largest health systems in Minnesota that collectively provide care to more than 90% of Minnesotans.

“The COVID-19 pandemic revealed a need to understand both localized disease patterns as well as the benefits and costs of different policy choices, like whether to close schools or mandate masks,” says SPH’s Eva Enns. “However, creating the analytic tools needed to support these decisions in the middle of a crisis was a challenge. At MADMC, we will have the opportunity to engage in thoughtful planning and development of modeling and analytic methods to generate clear, tailored, and actionable evidence to support emergency response decision-making in the face of an infectious threat.”

About the School of Public Health
The University of Minnesota School of Public Health improves the health and wellbeing of populations and communities around the world by bringing innovative research, learning, and concrete actions to today’s biggest health challenges. We prepare some of the most influential leaders in the field, and partner with health departments, communities, and policymakers to advance health equity for all. Learn more at sph.umn.edu.

About the University of Minnesota Medical School
The University of Minnesota Medical School is at the forefront of learning and discovery, transforming medical care and educating the next generation of physicians. Our graduates and faculty produce high-impact biomedical research and advance the practice of medicine. We acknowledge that the U of M Medical School, both the Twin Cities campus and Duluth campus, is located on traditional, ancestral and contemporary lands of the Dakota and the Ojibwe, and scores of other Indigenous people, and we affirm our commitment to tribal communities and their sovereignty as we seek to improve and strengthen our relations with tribal nations. For more information about the U of M Medical School, please visit med.umn.edu. 

About the Minnesota Department of Health
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) is the state’s lead public health agency, with a mission to protect, maintain, and improve the health of all Minnesotans. MDH is responsible for operating programs that prevent infectious and chronic diseases, while promoting clean water and air, safe food, quality health care, and healthy living.

About the MN EHR Consortium
The mission of the MN EHR Consortium is to improve health by informing policy and practice through data-driven collaboration among members of Minnesota’s health care community. Started in March 2020, the group began meeting with the goal of collaborating to study the epidemiology of chronic conditions affecting Minnesotans. As the COVID-19 pandemic emerged, the MN EHR Consortium expanded focus to develop a model for aggregating summary electronic health records data to inform near real-time public health needs related to COVID-19. Today, the MN EHR Consortium continues to provide robust information on health equity indicators (e.g., gender, race, ethnicity, rurality, language, age, and other important social determinants of health) related to COVID-19 illness to public health professionals, policy-makers and researchers.