Preparedness and Response Research
Research is critical for CDC and its state and local partners to efficiently and effectively prepare for, respond to, and recover from public health emergencies and disasters. Well designed and executed research will provide an evidence base to increase individual and community resilience, facilitate operational readiness, improve decision-making during emergency response, and speed the recovery of public health and healthcare systems and communities.
CPR’s research focuses on three broad areas: preparedness and response capabilities, emergency management activities, and factors affecting individual and community resilience to disasters and other adverse public health events.
It is important to understand the capacity of the public health system to withstand and respond to public health emergencies, including natural disasters and infectious disease outbreaks. CPR conducts and sponsors research to improve key capabilities, including:
- public health system and citizen preparedness
- community recovery
- countermeasures distribution
- outbreak investigation and surveillance
- non-pharmaceutical interventions
Response activities span the emergency management system, and it is crucial to understand the complexities of response organizations, responders, and their work. For example, CPR studies:
- incident command structure
- emergency operations center performance
- risk communications
- knowledge management
- responder health and safety
We work to identify and examine other factors that mitigate the negative impact of emergency events and improve community recovery, including social cohesion, and specific population strengths and vulnerabilities that can be influenced through programmatic interventions or policy decisions.
For further information, please contact ophpr_research@cdc.gov.
