Faculty

Atar Baer

Affiliate Assistant Professor, Epidemiology

206-263-8154

Education

PhD Epidemiology, University of Washington, 2002
MPH Epidemiology, University of Michigan, 1997
BA Psychology, University of California, 1994

Contact

206-263-8154

Public Health Seattle and King County
Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Immunization Program
401 5th Ave, Suite 1250
Seattle, WA 98104
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Bio

Atar Baer works at Public Health – Seattle & King County (PHSKC) with the Communicable Disease & Epidemiology Section, where she has served in various roles, including as an epidemiologist, program manager, and informatics director. She is currently one of the Section’s Health Services Administrators, where she has oversight for the program’s training and workforce capacity. Prior to 2022, she co-directed the planning, implementation, and direction of the Section’s Analytics & Informatics team, where she has had oversight for the development and use of public health databases and information management tools and resources needed to improve timeliness, completeness, and quality of reporting to support public health policies and decision-making. She has experience with program administration; designing and managing automated systems for collecting surveillance data; developing databases and data collection tools to support the Section's communicable disease surveillance activities; conducting epidemiologic investigations to support disease control and outbreak management; and evaluating the effectiveness of disease surveillance activities. Prior to working at PHSKC, her research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and at the University of Washington focused on sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV and human papillomavirus, as well as evaluation of novel approaches for cervical cancer screening and prevention. Atar holds a PhD in epidemiology from the University of Washington in Seattle and an MPH in epidemiology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Research Interests

  • Communicable disease prevention and control
  • Design and evaluation of public health surveillance systems

Recent Publications (PubMed)

A Population-Based Intervention to Improve Care Cascades of Patients With Hepatitis C Virus Infection.
(2021 Mar)
Hepatol Commun 5(3): 387-399
Scott J, Fagalde M, Baer A, Glick S, Barash E, Armstrong H, Kowdley KV, Golden MR, Millman AJ, Nelson NP, Canary L, Messerschmidt M, Patel P, Ninburg M, Duchin J

Epidemiology of Covid-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility in King County, Washington.
(2020 May 21)
N Engl J Med 382(21): 2005-2011
McMichael TM, Currie DW, Clark S, Pogosjans S, Kay M, Schwartz NG, Lewis J, Baer A, Kawakami V, Lukoff MD, Ferro J, Brostrom-Smith C, Rea TD, Sayre MR, Riedo FX, Russell D, Hiatt B, Montgomery P, Rao AK, Chow EJ, Tobolowsky F, Hughes MJ, Bardossy AC, Oakley LP, Jacobs JR, Stone ND, Reddy SC, Jernigan JA, Honein MA, Clark TA, Duchin JS, Public Health–Seattle and King County, EvergreenHealth, and CDC COVID-19 Investigation Team

COVID-19 in a Long-Term Care Facility - King County, Washington, February 27-March 9, 2020.
(2020 Mar 27)
MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep 69(12): 339-342
McMichael TM, Clark S, Pogosjans S, Kay M, Lewis J, Baer A, Kawakami V, Lukoff MD, Ferro J, Brostrom-Smith C, Riedo FX, Russell D, Hiatt B, Montgomery P, Rao AK, Currie DW, Chow EJ, Tobolowsky F, Bardossy AC, Oakley LP, Jacobs JR, Schwartz NG, Stone N, Reddy SC, Jernigan JA, Honein MA, Clark TA, Duchin JS, Public Health – Seattle & King County, EvergreenHealth, and CDC COVID-19 Investigation Team

Design of an Enhanced Public Health Surveillance System for Hepatitis C Virus Elimination in King County, Washington.
(2020 Jan)
Public Health Rep 135(1): 33-39
Baer A, Fagalde MS, Drake CD, Sohlberg EH, Barash E, Glick S, Millman AJ, Duchin JS

National and Regional Representativeness of Hospital Emergency Department Visit Data in the National Syndromic Surveillance Program, United States, 2014.
(2016 Aug)
Disaster Med Public Health Prep 10(4): 562-9
Coates RJ, Pérez A, Baer A, Zhou H, English R, Coletta M, Dey A

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