NVAC Public Member: Robert Swanson, MPH

Bob has worked in the Division of Immunization at the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services for nearly 30 years. Bob has been the Director of the Division of Immunization for over 12 years where he has direct oversight of the Michigan Immunization program.  Bob began his immunization career as an immunization field representative where he gained experience across all areas of the immunization program supporting local immunization activities. After 10 years in the field he became the Section Manager where he had oversight over field services, school and child care immunization reporting, the Vaccines for Children Program, and the Michigan IIS. Bob was on the initial team to develop the Michigan Immunization Information System (MCIR) which now contains over 10 million individuals and over 136 million vaccine records. Michigan has a very successful IIS and now much of the data obtained from the IIS is used to drive management of the immunization program and is incorporated into the practice flow of most private providers in Michigan. Bob has helped to implement many programs in Michigan. He was part of the team to first implement the VFC program in Michigan when it first became available in 1994. He saw it through the many transitions to centralized distribution of vaccine and the implementation of CDC vaccine ordering system (VTrCKS). Michigan was a pilot site for implementing vaccine ordering using the IIS with an interface to VTrCKS. This successful pilot is now the standard being used across the country. Michigan has successfully implemented several immunization education programs including an Immunization Nurse Education program where nurses are trained to outreach to provider offices to offer various educational sessions in the provider practice related to immunizations. A similar program for physicians is also in place where trained physicians present on immunizations using Peer Education Modules.  Bob has been actively involved in several national initiatives related to immunizations. Bob has been the chair of the AIM IIS Committee since 2003 and been re-elected to the Executive Committee of the Association of Immunization Managers (AIM) for three terms.