Outcomes and Effectiveness Research
Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness
Weill Cornell Creates Nation's First Comprehensive Guide for Hospital Emergency Preparedness Exercises (December 16, 2010)
Hospital Preparedness Exercises Resources. December 2010. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD.
The Cornell Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness (IDDP) is co-directed by Nathaniel Hupert, M.D., M.P.H., Associate Professor of Public Health and of Medicine, and Jack Muckstadt, Ph.D., the Acheson-Laibe Professor of Engineering in the Department of Operations Research and Information Engineering in the Cornell University College of Engineering. The Institute grew out of many years of work by Dr. Hupert, Professor Muckstadt, and other professionals in a range of academic specialties to develop models to prepare for and respond to natural or man-made disasters and disease epidemics.
The Institute's vision is to build the nation's leading research and education center in the field of public health response logistics, which is defined as the systematic study of a set of physical and human infrastructures, materials and supplies, transport resources, information and communication systems, business processes, decision support systems, and command and control systems required to respond quickly and appropriately to health crises.
The Cornell Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness has three interlinked goals:
- Primary research through theoretical modeling, model validation activities, and development of decision support tools for improved health system response to pressing health threats, including pandemic influenza, bioterrorism, HIV/AIDS, and others.
- Education of the nation's next generation of engineers and public health practitioners/researchers with combined expertise in both the quantitative techniques of operations research (simulation, mathematical modeling, and statistical analysis) and the applied field of public health systems research.
- Outreach to end-users including hospitals, health systems, public health officials at the local, regional/state, and Federal levels, insurance and risk management entities, and data integrators/information system developers capable of translating pilot projects into widely available decision support tools.
The Institute coordinates research activities in several academic disciplines and is developing degree programs that will concentrate on response logistics for public health emergencies. The Institute faculty have a proven track record of creating logistics solutions for business and government including public health and disaster response. In the public health realm, Institute faculty have had a material impact on domestic preparedness at the Federal, State, and local levels for bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. Weill Cornell is one of only a handful of academic medical institutions contributing to scenario development and health systems modeling at the highest levels of the U.S. Executive Branch of government.
Contact:
Nathaniel Hupert, M.D., M.P.H.
Co-Director, Cornell Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness (IDDP)
Associate Professor of Public Health and Medicine
Weill Cornell Medical College
(646) 962-8045
