APHA
Back to Annual Meeting Page
 
American Public Health Association
133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition
December 10-14, 2005
Philadelphia, PA
APHA 2005
 
4090.0: Tuesday, December 13, 2005 - Board 2

Abstract #114798

A Disaster Education, Research, and Mentoring Center to improve post-disaster assessment

Sasha Rudenstine1, Kenneth Ruggiero, PhD2, Ron Acierno, PhD2, Connie Best, PhD2, Heidi Resnick, PhD2, David Vlahov, PhD3, Dean Kilpatrick, PhD2, and Sandro Galea, MD, MPH3. (1) Center For Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Acedemy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Ave, New York, NY 10029, 212-822-7274, srudenstine@nyam.org, (2) National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, Medical University of South Carolina, 165 Cannon Street, Charleston, SC 29425, (3) Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies, New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10029

Research and assessment is an essential part of post-disaster intervention. The Disaster Research Education, and Mentoring Center (DREM), established through a National Institutes of Health grant, is co-sponsored by the Medical University of South Carolina and the New York Academy of Medicine. The DREM Center, is a virtual center, comprised of cross-site and multidisciplinary faculty, designed to improve the quality of post-disaster research. The Center aims to directly assist researchers from a variety of disciplines design and implement collaborative epidemiological research projects in the aftermath of natural, human-made, or terrorist disasters. Such research projects can document the impact of disasters and have the potential to improve public policy and the future development and improvement of disaster-response services. Since DREM inception we have worked with researchers in Madrid after the March 11 train bombings and in Florida following the 2004 hurricanes. In both these settings, DREM Center faculty have worked with local investigators to design, implement, and analyze studies aimed at documenting the consequences of these disasters in the general population and in specific high risk groups. In this session we will discuss how cross-site, and cross-disciplinary partnerships of researchers can be established to assist local initiatives to implement research after disaster. We will consider lessons learned, results from these ongoing studies, and how the DREM center findings have informed public health practice in the immediate aftermath of disaster events.

Learning Objectives:

Keywords: Disasters, Research

Related Web page: www.disasterresearch.org

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Disaster and Terrorism Preparedness Posters

The 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition (December 10-14, 2005) of APHA