FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 28, 2003

              Contact:Stephen Summers

                                                                                         Risk Communicator stephens@passaiccountynj.org

(973) 225-3638

Paterson – The Passaic County Board of Chosen Freeholders has announced the hiring of Dr. Mahmood A. Khan as the new Epidemiologist for the Passaic County Department of Health. Dr. Khan officially started in his new role on October 20, 2003. The department of health is located in the Administration Building Annex at 317 Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Paterson.

Dr. Khan received his Master of Public Health with a major in Epidemiology from the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) School of Public Health in 2002. He received his Doctor of Medicine in 1980.

Dr. Khan entered into the Public Health/Environmental field in 1985 while being contracted to work on infectious disease surveillance internationally.  For the past three years he has been associated with various research projects dealing with clinical trials and data analysis at UMDNJ in Newark, New Jersey.

Dr. Khan plans to work closer in collaboration with all of the major hospitals of Passaic County.  In doing so,  he plans to develop and and share information from multiple electronic surveillance systems that track and monitor such things as diseases, particularly bio-terrorist diseases, and over-the-counter drugs sold through pharmacy chains.

Dr. Khan believes that further research and development on electronic surveillance is a valuable asset that the county department of health can offer to detect disease trends before the community-at-large gets exposed.  Early detection will allow the Passaic County Department of Health quicker response times to health emergencies, in collaboration with our partner agencies, that can save lives.

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