Press Release

CDC Awards $10.9 Million for Preparedness Research Centers at Seven Schools of Public Health

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded $10.9 million to seven accredited schools of public health for the establishment of Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers (PERRCs). The seven schools will conduct research that will evaluate the structure, capabilities, and performance of public health systems for preparedness and emergency response activities.

“This is yet another way to expand the efforts by our nation’s schools of public health to enhance state and local emergency preparedness efforts,” said Richard E. Besser, M.D., director of CDC’s Coordinating Office for Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response. “These research centers will connect public health with scientists involved in business, engineering, legal, and social sciences to incorporate multiple perspectives into preparedness and response research which can be used to strengthen our nation’s response capability.”

Since 2000, CDC has been working with schools of public health after it funded and established the Centers of Public Health Preparedness (CPHP). CPHP strengthens terrorism and emergency preparedness by linking academic expertise to state and local health agency needs, especially around the development, delivery, and evaluation of preparedness education. The establishment of the new research centers is mandated by the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act of 2006, which calls for research to improve federal, state, local, and tribal public health preparedness and response systems.

CDC received more than 20 applications from accredited schools of public health seeking funds to develop research centers. The selection criteria for the funding took into consideration the recommendations of a recent Institute of Medicine (IOM) report, Research Priorities in Emergency Preparedness and Response for Public Health Systems www.iom.edu/PHSRpriorities.

The seven schools receiving funding and their research priorities are:

• Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia - Create and Maintain Sustainable Preparedness and Response Systems, $1,562,676
• Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts - Generate Criteria and Metrics to Measure Effectiveness and Efficiency, $1,717,286
• Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland - Preparedness to Address the Risks of Vulnerable Populations, $1,495,398
• University of Minnesota, Minneapolis - Enhance the Usefulness of Training, $1,470,307
• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill - Create and Maintain Sustainable Preparedness and Response Systems, $1,695,189
• University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - Create and Maintain Sustainable Preparedness and Response Systems and Generate Criteria and Metrics to Measure Effectiveness and Efficiency, $1,701,845
• University of Washington, Seattle, Washington - Improve Communications in Preparedness and Response, $1,270,632

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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES