National Center for Disaster Preparedness Director Kicks Off National Public Health Week Seminar Series at VCU

By Pamela DiSalvo Lepley
Division of University Relations

A leading authority on disaster preparedness will be the keynote speaker for a National Public Health Week seminar series at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness and associate dean of Clinical Public Health at Columbia University, will speak at noon, Monday, April 2 in 4-026 Sanger Hall at the VCU Medical Center. 

Redlener speaks and writes extensively on national disaster preparedness policies, pandemic influenza, the threat of terrorism in the United States and the impact and consequences of major natural disasters and related issues.

Redlener worked at length in the Gulf Coast region following Hurricane Katrina, where he helped establish ongoing medical and public health programs.  He also organized medical response teams in the immediate aftermath of the World Trade Center attacks on 9/11. He is the author of "Americans At Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared For Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now."

Redlener's speech is the first in a four-day seminar series on "Preparedness and Public Health Threats: Addressing the Unique Needs of the Nation's Vulnerable Populations."  The noon-time series at VCU, April 2-5, will address preparedness from the national, state, local, and university perspective.  Speakers include Lisa Kaplowitz, M.D., Virginia deputy commissioner for Emergency Preparedness and Response; Mark Levine, M.D., director of the Henrico County Health Department; and a panel discussion of VCU faculty and staff moderated by Joseph Ornato, M.D., chair of the Department of Emergency Medicine and medical director of the Richmond Ambulance Authority.

The seminar series is presented by VCU's emerging School of Public Health and the Virginia Department of Health and is sponsored by Owens & Minor.  More information about the series and National Public Health Week is available at www.vcu.edu/nphw.