Reviewing Responses to National Incidents and new Opportunities for timely research to better understand health impacts and resiliency

After 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, H1N1 flu epidemic, the Deep Water Horizon (DWH) Oil Spill, Hurricane Sandy and other disasters, the need to collect data and information rapidly following a disaster to explore both short term as well as longitudinal health concerns and effects has been increasingly raised by the CDC, NIH, ASPR and others. Unfortunately, our disaster preparedness and response efforts have not focused on such concerns and the necessary infrastructure (funding mechanisms, institutional review boards, scientific oversight, data collection, referral networks) to support the timely research within a disaster setting.  Use of surveillance data and information collected during a crisis, although highly beneficial for response efforts, are not a substitute for timely and properly conducted health and scientific research to address longitudinal questions and concerns. Robust epidemiologic studies and medical testing can be critical to understanding the many uncertainties surrounding these situations and enabling good decision-making, asset allocation, and recovery. This presentation will identify some of the major issues from recent disaster experiences, conferences, and articles  in performing timely research in response to an Incident.  Additionally, the DWH and Hurricane Sandy responses will be used to illustrate recent efforts to fund research, deploy the research community, build community-based participation in response to these situations.  Additionally, evolving national strategies and opportunities to further our capabilities for time research to better understand health impacts and resiliency will be discussed.