 | A major contributor to this article appears to have aclose connection with its subject. It may require cleanup to comply with Wikipedia's content policies, particularlyneutral point of view. Please discuss further on thetalk page.(March 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Essence is an abbreviation/acronym for theUnited States Department of Defense'sElectronic Surveillance System for the Early Notification of Community-basedEpidemics. Essence's goal is to monitorhealth data as it becomes available and discover epidemics and similar health concerns before they get out of control.[1] The program was created and developed in 1999 by Michael Lewis, when he was aresident in thePreventive Medicine residency training program at theWalter Reed Army Institute of Research in Silver Spring, Maryland.[2]
Though the program was originally intended for early detection ofbioterrorism attacks in the Washington, D.C., area in the wake of theSeptember 11 attacks, theU.S. Army Surgeon General, James Peake, ordered Jay Mansfield, theinformation technology specialist responsible for the IT development of ESSENCE, to expand ESSENCE to look globally at the entire DoDMilitary Healthcare System as designed. Subsequently, ESSENCE has been adopted and adapted by theCenters for Disease Control and Prevention,Johns Hopkins University, and numeroushealth departments around the United States and other countries.[citation needed]
.svg) | This United States government–related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |
 | This article about a medical organization or association is astub. You can help Wikipedia byexpanding it. |