Disaster medicine: At the crossroads of medicine and public health

In the aftermath of September 11, the American Medical Association (AMA) created the Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response to demonstrate the commitment of the AMA to the vital area of national health security. From its inception, the Center has played a role in developing and formulating the many activities and policies that have contributed to improved public health preparedness. Three of the tenets that have shaped AMA involvement are: (1) public health preparedness does not belong to any one medical specialty or health discipline—it belongs to all, (2) every physician has a secondary specialty—and that is public health and (3) effective public health preparedness and response requires horizontal integration across the public and private sectors and vertically from the community through the international level—preparedness and response is a system. Specific accomplishments include the development of “all hazards” national education and training materials and a supporting national education consortium; active participation in multiple grants supporting healthcare volunteer databases, scenario modeling efforts, health system integration, community planning, physician public health leadership and providing support for and input into numerous national policy committees addressing public health. This work has been facilitated and made possible through collaborative and meaningful partnerships/relationships with such agencies and groups as APHA, NACCHO, ASTHO, ANA, HHS, DoD, DHS, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, RAND and the AMA Federation of Medicine. The AMA was recognized by congress for its contributions to the landmark Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act (S.3678).