The Secretary may carry out activities to address documented workforce shortages in State and local health departments in the critical areas of applied public health epidemiology and public health laboratory science and informatics and may expand the Epidemic Intelligence Service.

In carrying out subsection (a), the Secretary shall provide for the expansion of existing fellowship programs operated through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in a manner that is designed to alleviate shortages of the type described in subsection (a).

The Secretary may provide for the expansion of other applied epidemiology training programs that meet objectives similar to the objectives of the programs described in subsection (b).

Participation in fellowship training programs under this section shall be deemed to be service for purposes of satisfying work obligations stipulated in contracts under section 254q–1(j) of this title.

Amounts may be used from grants awarded under this section to expand the Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to better support all public health systems at all levels of government.

There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section $39,500,000 for each of fiscal years 2010 through 2013, of which—

(1) $5,000,000 shall be made available in each such fiscal year for epidemiology fellowship training program activities under subsections (b) and (c);

(2) $5,000,000 shall be made available in each such fiscal year for laboratory fellowship training programs under subsection (b);

(3) $5,000,000 shall be made available in each such fiscal year for the Public Health Informatics Fellowship Program under subsection (e); and

(4) $24,500,000 shall be made available for expanding the Epidemic Intelligence Service under subsection (a).

(July 1, 1944, ch. 373, title VII, § 778, as added Pub. L. 111–148, title V, § 5314, Mar. 23, 2010, 124 Stat. 636.)