Northeastern Spotlight

Fall 2019 Volume 14 – Number 2

TB Limelight – Andy Tibbs, MPH

Andy Tibbs has had a unique journey into the world of infectious diseases and tuberculosis (TB). Andy Tibbs is currently the Director of Epidemiology, Surveillance, and Research at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Andy grew up in an unconventional household -- Andy’s mother was a diplomat and his father worked as an engineer in the Army, which led him to spend some of his early years in Syria, Israel, and Egypt. During his time in the Middle East, Andy learned basic Arabic, spent time with a diverse set of friends, and enjoyed the history of his surrounding, such as the view of the pyramids. Andy has always been fascinated by nature and the environment, so he decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology at the University of Massachusetts.

Following his college education, Andy joined the Peace Corps as an Environment Volunteer in Morocco where he worked with the local community to develop projects that addressed deforestation, and to preserve animals and birds in sanctuaries. However, Andy learned that the local communities were mostly uninterested in environmental projects when they had health concerns of any type, including infectious diseases. He realized that some of the projects he was working on lacked some structure and decided that he wanted to be more involved in designing and implementing projects, so he decided to pursue a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree with a concentration in infectious disease epidemiology and international health.  

Andy during his Peace Corps days

After graduate school, Andy was offered a contract position to work as an epidemiologist for the Massachusetts Department of Health (MADOH). His job was to identify and interview contacts for TB cases and re-interview them systematically. As Andy puts it, “I eventually transitioned to a full time position within MADOH. I also happened to meet my wife at the same time and that kept me from moving [back] to Africa!” Andy gradually became the team lead for the Surveillance, Research, and Epidemiology group within the TB Refugee and Immigrant Health program at MADOH.

Andy’s typical day entails managing various responsibilities, ranging from overseeing contact investigations, reporting data to CDC, planning talks for conferences, and applying for new grants. Andy certainly enjoys his role, and you can hear this in his passion for  improving healthcare systems when he talks about it. “Personally, I find the challenge of building an [electronic medical record] EMR system very gratifying. I can take data and find better ways to present it. It is crazy, weird and fascinating at the same time. Also, elements of my current role allow me to be tuned in globally with regards to TB.”
Andy is passionate about TB infection, surveillance, and the intersection of technology to eliminate paper-based systems in healthcare. Some of Andy’s achievements include, extracting medical surveillance data from electronic medical records (EMR), as part of the three-year demonstration project at the Lynn Community Center in Massachusetts. While working on this project, he was able to attain longitudinal follow-up data from treatment initiation to treatment completion. Andy also leads the infection surveillance workgroup as part of the National Tuberculosis Controllers Association (NTCA).As part of this group, he co-wrote the case definition of TB infection that was accepted by the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE).
Andy’s colleague, Dr. Shama Ahuja, PhD, Director of Surveillance and Epidemiology at the New York City Bureau of TB Control, shares some of her experiences working with him. “A number of years ago, I came across a document that Andy had put together about the benefits and challenges of LTBI surveillance. I was struck by how succinct, well-thought out, and organized this document was. This was at the beginning of the national conversation about LTBI surveillance and after seeing Andy’s document, I thought to myself, I don’t know who that guy is, but he’s done a lot more thinking on this topic than anyone else – let’s get him in a leadership role! The rest is history…”

Andy views the interface between epidemiology, nursing, and clinical aspects of TB as essential. In his words, “Nurses are excellent patient advocates; I think it is important to split the role of nurses and epidemiologists. In Massachusetts, we have a team based approach which allows the nurses to focus on the clinical aspects and the surveillance person to focus on the epidemiological aspects.” Andy adds that this method enhances data quality, and encourages a multidisciplinary team approach.  

Andy finds the underutilization of data in the TB field as one of the challenges that he experiences in his current role. Missing data information can hinder treatment completion rates and without accurate surveillance information, there is an inability to identify the true risk of progression to TB disease. “I think showing people the power of data that they can collect and collaborating with epidemiologists during investigations can be effective in addressing these challenges,” remarks Andy.

In addition to TB, Andy has various interests including photography and  cooking. He particularly enjoys making unprocessed healthy meals for his family, and spending time with his two sons – Kieran and Conall.

Andy strives to empower the TB community about EMR, and one of his goals is to improve surveillance infrastructure. “I would like to see TB programs become more integrated with each other and other infectious diseases, as this can be beneficial. I would like to promote this on a national level,” explains Andy. It is very clear that Andy is a dedicated public health professional, and those of us involved in TB control are all very lucky to have his experience, motivation, and boundless energy in our corner!

Submitted by Shwata Suresh Kumar, MPH and Arpita Jindani, MA, MSW – Health Educators