EpiTech Consulting offers innovative research, applications, and consulting to a wide variety of clients.  Located in Los Angeles County, EpiTech Consulting was founded by Dr. Heidi Sato in 2006.

Dr. Heidi Sato received a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition and Food Science from the University of California, Berkeley, a Master of Public Health from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from TUI University.  Her dissertation focused on developing a structural equation model to predict foodborne illness outbreaks at restaurants.  She has conducted research on infectious diseases at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland and worked on a medical project in Ghana, West Africa.  She has worked for 15 years as an epidemiologist for Los Angeles County Department of Health Services.  While working for the Acute Communicable Disease Control Unit, she investigated over 60 outbreaks of infectious diseases.  She has also conducted epidemiologic analysis of restaurant inspections and provided consultation to senior management at Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. 

Dr. Sato has been a professor for the College of Health Sciences at TUI University, where she has been teaching courses in research, epidemiology, and disaster management.  She has over 10 articles/abstracts published on infectious diseases and has presented at a number of conferences, including the World Congress of Environmental Health.  She has served as an expert witness for the largest hepatitis A outbreak in the United States.

Awards

Dr. Heidi Sato has been the recipient of a number of awards.  In 2003, she was awarded the Excellence in Environmental Health Award by the California Conference of Directors of Environmental Health for developing an innovative database application called Foodborne Illness Advisor, which advises inspectors regarding the validity, etiology, and probable source of a foodborne illness complaint.  She was also awarded the Productivity and Quality Award in 2003 by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.