Medical Library Association | Education : Disaster Information Specialization Program

US Response to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies

"US Response to Disasters and Public Health Emergencies" provides an introduction to disaster/emergency planning and response as conducted in the United States, with an emphasis on medical response. To determine where disaster information specialists might best fit into the US framework for disaster/emergency response, it is necessary to start with shared understanding of terminology, concepts, legislation, organizations, and lessons learned from previous incidents. The class describes efforts to provide structure and order before, during, and after emergencies and disasters. Changes over time in legislation and the US framework for disaster/emergency response are discussed using examples from 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the Haiti earthquake. This course is a required class for the Disaster Information Specialization Program. This project is funded by a contract with the Disaster Information Management Research Center, Specialized Information Services Division, National Library of Medicine.

Register Now (Available now)
Indivduals can now register to view the original program "On-demand." Register, participate and earn 3 MLA CE contact hours. (After you register, you will receive an email with the login information and details for earning your certificate for participating.)

Resources for Course

Available on MLA's Moodle site. To view, login as a guest. Please print off handouts and presentation materials before watching the course.

Course Instructors

Dr. Mary Moore

Mary Moore is the chair, Department of Health Informatics, and executive director, Medical Libraries and Biomedical Communications, at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL. Dr. Moore is a member of the university's Disaster Interest Group and of the Miami-Dade County Department of Health Medical Reserve Corps. She and her libraries' staff have been involved in responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the Haiti earthquake. She has taught health informatics, medical decision support, management information systems, information technology project management, and other topics at the University of Miami, University of Texas-Austin, Texas Tech University, Arkansas State University, and Helsinki School of Economics. Moore received the MLA Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship from the Institute for Scientific Information, the MLA Rittenhouse Award, and the MLA Donald A.B. Lindberg Research Fellowship.

Kimberly Loper

Kimberly Loper is vice chair for administration and special projects and digital initiatives librarian at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's (UMMSM's) Department of Health Informatics and the Louis Calder Memorial Library. She is a member of the UMMSM Response Team-Medical Reserve Corps and has completed five Medical Reserve Corps and Federal Emergency Management Agency classes. Her experiences in the US Army, serving in the Gulf War, prepared her for emergency response and logistics management.

For more information, contact Debra Cavanaugh, mlapd3@mlahq.org, 312.419.9094 x32.

This project is funded by the National Library of Medicine under contract HHS-N-276-2010-00782-P.