November 18, 2009
Berkeley gets $5 million CDC grant to improve emergency response and preparedness
In order to promote public health systems research in emergency preparedness and response, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded a major grant to the Center for Infectious Diseases and Emergency Readiness (CIDER) at the University of California, Berkeley's School of Public Health.
CIDER will receive more than $1.49 million a year for the next four years to establish and run a CDC Preparedness & Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC). The UC Berkeley School of Public Health is one of only nine accredited U.S. schools of public health to receive this CDC funding.
The UC Berkeley PERRC is called Cal PREPARE (Public Health Research Using Emergency Preparedness and Response Events). The center will organize response events that include statewide operations-based preparedness exercises and real-time emergency drills. The center will build on CIDER's tradition of partnering with local and state health departments, as well as its emphasis on serving vulnerable populations, such as those who have barriers related to literacy, language, culture, or disabilities. It will also capitalize on the expertise of CIDER staff in surveillance, field investigations, epidemiologic methods, communicable disease control and training innovations to prepare vulnerable populations for disasters.
"Because CIDER core and affiliated faculty members are active public health professionals, we have established strong training, technical assistance and research partnerships with the public health community," said Dr. Tomás Aragón, who directs CIDER. "To become fully all-hazards and multi-disciplinary, we have added to the list of CIDER affiliates nationally and internationally recognized academic research faculty from public health and specialists in weapons of mass destruction."
The CDC's priority areas for research at the PERRCs through the country include protecting vulnerable populations in emergencies, strengthening response systems, preparing the public health workforce, improving timely emergency communications and improving information management to increase use.
The Cal PREPARE center will conduct research projects in four areas: (1) all-hazards communication to improve the resilience of vulnerable populations; (2) early warning, investigation, surveillance: epidemiologic networks in action; (3) closing the chemical, radiological, and nuclear gaps in public health all-hazards preparedness; and (4) systems research using statewide operations-based exercises.
The establishment of the new PERRCs was mandated by the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, which calls for research to improve federal, state and local public health preparedness and response systems. The centers will strengthen terrorism and emergency preparedness by linking academic expertise to state and local agency needs.