Heading Down The
Right Road
Internet Mini-Conference 2
Biodefense, Responding to
Bioterrorism and Interoperability
May 26, 2004 – All Times are Eastern US
Daylight Savings Time
This
mini-conference, entitled Biodefense, Responding to Bioterrorism and Interoperability, is the
second in a series called Heading Down The
Right Road.
Biodefense,
Bioterrorism Response and Interoperability
will examine the issues, challenges, and possible solutions that will enable
federal, state and local officials to better mitigate bio-health events via a
rapid and well-managed response. It will describe new developments in advanced
communications technology as well as cover its role in biodefense. While state
of the art communications technology can help to solve problems, mitigate
biohealth events and vastly improve incident management, there is an
organizational dimension in our collective efforts to improve interoperability
which requires careful and equal attention. And many of our speakers will
examine this important element in our biodefense strategy, and state of overall
preparedness.
The first UMaine
Homeland Security Lab Internet-based, mini-conference, Interoperability, took place in November 2002. It featured speakers
from several federal agencies including FEMA,
CDC
,
US
Public Health Service, PSWN / USDOJ,
and the US Army / CECOM. This mini-conference outlined how interoperability was
being addressed via advances in communications technology by each agency as part
of a broader strategy. The videos and slides
from the first mini-conference are available on this site.
8:30 Welcome and Introduction
Dr. George Markowsky, Chair
Department of Computer Science
Director, Homeland Security Lab
University of Maine
8:35 Overview
Peter Brown
Homeland Security Lab
University of Maine
Communications Advisor to Maine Emergency Management Agency
Video
of Introduction
8:45 David G. Boyd, Ph.D.
Director, SAFECOM Program Office
Deputy Director, Systems Engineering and Development
Science and Technology Directorate
Department of Homeland Security
Dr. Boyd will open
the conference and outline DHS priorities with respect to interoperability
and bioterrorism response.
Video of Dr. Boyd's Talk
9:20 Craig DeAtley
Deputy Director
Institute for Public Health Emergency Preparedness
Washington Hospital Center
Washington , D.C.
Mr. DeAtley will
address some of the obstacles which communities face as they address emergency
preparedness for large scale, mass casualty events. He will also describe some
of the lessons learned, and speculate about what might happen in the future.
Video
of Mr. DeAtley's Talk
10:00 Peter Beering
Terrorism Preparedness Coordinator
City of Indianapolis
Mr. Beering will
explore the successful strategies and tactics for the management of events large
and small, expected and not. He will focus on dealing with special and sporting
events as well as known techniques used to manage actual emergencies and
terrorist attacks. He will
demonstrate that true homeland security ultimately depends on the support and
relationships of those who can be called upon in times of great need. This is
true for nations, states, cities, towns, neighborhoods, businesses, and even for
families and individuals.
Video
of Mr. Beering's Talk
10:
40 Break
10:50 Dr. Rima Styra, MD, MEd,
Director of Continuing Medical Education
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
University of Toronto
Dr. Styra will
examine the lessons learned from the Toronto SARS experience. A
bioterrorist attack with a life-threatening pathogen would affect the population
on several levels: the infected individual, the healthcare provider, and the
individual who was quarantined as a result of exposure. The psychological
aspects associated with these various situations may be the determining factor
in successfully managing this type of threat. The psychological consequences
that we have learned about as a result of the
Toronto
experience with SARS, will be reviewed
in this presentation.
The psychological
sequelae for patients who were diagnosed and isolated with SARS were severe and
lasted well beyond the period of hospitalization. The psychological distress of
healthcare workers treating patients with SARS in a major teaching hospital was
also assessed. These healthcare workers treated patients who they
perceived as posing a life threatening threat to not only themselves, but also
to their families. The healthcare workers working in high-risk units
were evaluated in comparison to those working within low risk environments.
Imposing quarantine on individuals who might have been exposed is also not
without consequences. The factors that determine compliance with
quarantine: such as knowledge, resources, and emotional response to the
situation need to be clearly understood. The system will not be able to
respond or be effective if in trying to address the needs of society we do not
address the needs of the individual. Managing the psychological aspects
associated with the different situations may be the determining factor in
successfully managing this type of threat.
Video of Dr. Styra's
Talk
11:30 Jacqueline R. Scott
Senior Attorney
Center for Sustainable Health Outreach
Georgetown Law School
Ms. Scott will
address the issue of integrating vulnerable populations into bioterrorism and
biosecurity response systems. She will highlight the role of multi-sector
partnerships at all levels as part of a comprehensive approach to emergency
response planning, and will emphasize that steps must be taken now to
ensure the safety of rural and inner city populations, which are often difficult
to locate and serve. These groups are often economically and socially
disenfranchised, and as a consequence they often receive inconsistent and low
quality healthcare.
Despite significant
technological advancement, troubling gaps in the public health system remain.
One can see hospitals attempting to build needed capacity in emergency rooms,
state health departments working to bring together fragmented systems, and
county offices developing effective emergency communications systems. All this
is underway while states struggle to recruit and train enough emergency response
and public health personnel to be on call nights and weekends when unexpected
emergencies are likely to occur.
The video of Ms. Scott is not available at this time. We
hope to have it be available very soon.
12:
10 Lunch Break
1:00 Dr. M. Barry Rhodes
Associate Director for Public Health Systems Development
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Dr. Rhodes will
address Public Health Information Network (PHIN) standards and interoperability
in secure message transport and delivery, including routing, vocabulary, message
format and information models which make up the PHIN framework. Special
emphasis will be given to the Public Health Information Network Messaging System
(PHINMS) which incorporates several standards for message delivery including
ebXML, XML encryption and signature, and authentication.
The video
of Dr. Rhodes's Talk is not available at this time. There was a problem with the
sound track and we are working on producing a good copy.
1:40 Dr. R. Steven Tharratt, Professor
University of California at Davis
Medical Science Advisor
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services
Dr. Tharratt will
focus on managing emergency health information during bioevents, and the novel
bridging of emergency management and telehealth networks using satellite
technology. Initial detection and quantification of the nature and scope of an
event requires information supplied from geographically dispersed areas with a
requirement for analysis by specialists that may not be in proximity to the
incident. This initial analysis often requires examination of human and/or
animal subjects with a need to maintain isolation. Traditionally, this has been
accomplished utilizing discrete independent information networks, often
operating in isolation from each other, and resulting in unavoidable
inconsistencies in information and message.
Dr. Tharratt will
describe how University of California, Davis Health System and the California
Governor’s Office of Emergency Services are using portable satellite
technology supplied by Norsat Technologies and existing satellite bandwidth
reserved by California's emergency management programs to mitigate biohealth
events.
California
's emergency management system can now
directly link into existing telehealth networks throughout the state. This
highly portable system can remotely examine clinical subjects, link both human
and animal disease experts anywhere in the state, coordinate information flow in
support of state departments of human and animal health management of the event,
and rapidly disseminate "just in time" management advice or
recommendations to health providers and county public health departments
throughout the state.
Video
of Dr. Tharratt's Talk
2:20
Break
2:30 Olan Johnston
Coordinator
Maine Citizen Corps
Mr. Johnston will
delve into many of the fundamental roles and objectives of the Citizen Corps
(CC), which sees bioterrorism response as just one of several goals and missions
at the state level. He will describe how to build collaborative partnerships
with local, county, regional, state, and federal entities, and how to prepare
adequate capacity for response. He will also cover the DMAT Project. In addition
to addressing infrastructure, capacity and related issues, his presentation will
address the evolution and evolving missions of the CC in the context of the
challenges facing the Department of Homeland Security, and in particular, the
redefined role of the Office of Domestic Preparedness in partnership with the
Department of Health and Human Services.
Video
of Mr. Johnston's Talk
3:10 Eugene Gerard
Senior Director of Professional Services
OpWatch Division
Paradigm Solutions Corp.
Mr. Gerard assisted
city officials in
Naperville
,
Illinois
last May during the large scale federal
disaster drill known as TOPOFF2 which was designed to prepare urban areas for a
terrorist attack utilizing weapons of mass destruction. TOPOFF2 tested the
ability of
Illinois
to respond to a non-conventional
threat, pool resources and coordinate communications quickly. The purpose of
TOPOFF2 for the City of
Naperville
was to exercise
Naperville
’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC), coordinate with other county
participants, and, determine how to take
Naperville
’s EOC operations and emergency
management to the next level.
Mr. Gerard will
present the lessons learned during this exercise. Among other things, Mr. Gerard
was able to closely observe City, DuPage County and Edward Hospital officials as
they coped with the raising of the national threat level to Red, the activation
of the city’s EOC, the rapid transport by EMS of patients affected by unknown
contagion, the implementation of security measures at the Edward Hospital’s
emergency room, the notification of the public upon diagnosis of unknown
contagion, and, first-responder and citywide prophylactic medication
distribution.
Video
of Mr. Gerard's Talk
3:50
Concluding Remarks
Peter
Brown
George
Markowsky
Biographies of Speakers
Peter
Beering
As Terrorism
Preparedness Coordinator for the City of
Indianapolis
, Peter Beering oversees the
training of thousands of public safety, emergency medical, and hospital
emergency personnel. He is the primary author and program director for the
Indianapolis Metropolitan Medical Response System Plan. Mr. Beering has trained
mayors and senior city officials throughout the
United States
in terrorism preparation and response.
He has worked both with the US Department of Defense as well as with the US
Department of Justice as a member of the Executive Session on Domestic
Preparedness, a joint initiative with the Harvard University JFK School of
Government. He is the lead author of "Winning Plays: Essential Guidance
From the Terrorism Line of Scrimmage" published in 2002. He serves as a
faculty member for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and
Firearms
National
Academy
, and he teaches criminal law, evidence
law, and terrorism at
Indiana
University
. He was the architect of the Indiana
Omnibus Anti-terrorism Act of 2000.
Peter
J. Brown
Peter J. Brown is a
freelance writer who serves in a voluntary capacity as satellite technology and
communications advisor to the Maine Emergency Management Agency. He has been
active recently in working groups assigned to interoperable emergency
communications, identifying better ways to alert and warn the deaf and hard of
hearing, and, mobile command posts. He is the Senior Homeland Security Editor at
Maryland-based Via Satellite magazine. He has been a contributor to books on
executive protection and antiterrorism policy. He graduated from
Connecticut
College
with distinction in Asian Studies.
Dr.
David G. Boyd
Dr. Boyd joined the
Department of Homeland Security in March, 2003 and serves as the Deputy
Director, System Engineering and Development in the Science and Technology
Directorate and as the Program Manager for Project SAFECOM, a Presidential
Management Agenda initiative to achieve interoperability among all elements of
the national public safety/first responder community. He also serves on
the President's National Task Force on Spectrum Management. Dr. Boyd is a
graduate of the University of Illinois-Champaign,
Golden Gate
University
, the University of Illinois-Chicago,
and
Walden
University
. He holds graduate degrees in
Operations Research and Public Policy Analysis, as well as a doctorate in
Decision Sciences.
In 1992, Dr. Boyd
began serving as the Director of Science and Technology for the National
Institute of Justice which is single largest law enforcement and corrections
technology development activity in the
United States
. In 1997, he was also appointed Deputy
Director of the Institute. Among other things, he directed the DNA and forensic
laboratory improvement programs, which were designed to strengthen DNA
identification and general forensic analysis capabilities in state and local
crime laboratories. He served on the White House National Science and
Technology Council, the National Security Council Committee on Safety and
Security of Public Facilities, and as the Executive Chair of the Justice
Department's Technology Policy Council.
His U.S. Army
career, which spanned more than 20 years, included command of combat, combat
support, and training units in the
US
and overseas. Dr. Boyd served on
military staffs from battalion level to the Pentagon, and he led a special
strategic analysis in support of the first Gulf War. His more than three
dozen military awards include the Bronze Star and Purple Heart.
Craig
DeAtley, PA-C
Craig DeAtley is
the Deputy Director of the Institute for Public Health Emergency Readiness at
the
Washington
Hospital
Center
, the
District of Columbia
's largest hospital. He is an Associate
Professor of Emergency Medicine at
George
Washington
University
, and he works as a Physician Assistant
at
Fairfax
Hospital
, a
Level
Trauma
Center
in
Northern Virginia
. A volunteer paramedic with the Fairfax County Fire and Rescue
Department, he is a member of their Urban Search and Rescue Team, and
serves as the team's Medical Team Coordinator. He also serves as the Assistant
Medical Director of both the US Customs Service and the Fairfax County Police
Department. He has
particular interest
in hazardous material/WMD planning and response and was a founding member of
NMRS-DC-1, the nations first US Public Health Service trained and equipped
civilian NBC incident response team. A consultant with Titan-Research Planning
Inc.’s on projects related to US DOD's/DOJ's WMD Domestic Preparedness
Program, and the CDC's Public Health Department self assessment program. In
2002, the
American
Academy
of Physician's Assistants named him
their Outstanding Physician Assistant. He recently served as Lead Editor and
author for Jane's Mass Casualty Handbook:
Prehospital.
Since
September 11 2001
, millions of dollars have been
spent at the federal, state and local level to improve agency and hospital
response to WMD/terrorism incidents. While more suits, detectors, and trained
personnel are needed, community preparedness is ultimately improved when the
twin objectives of integration and coordination of all available resources are
achieved. Interoperability is also vital; however, it is not simply a matter of
having better communication between all members of the response community. It
includes standardization of response terminology, and procedures.
Eugene
Gerard
Eugene Gerard is
the senior director of professional services at the OpWatch Division of Paradigm
Solutions Corp. Based in
Philadelphia
. Eugene Gerard has more than three decades of experience with Fortune
100 and 500 companies as well with federal government systems. He specializes in
the development and implementation often on a global scale of large scale
strategic roadmaps and systems dealing with business continuity,
customer relationships, IT integration, and data warehousing. His previous
positions were with IBM, CSC, Cognos and KPMG Consulting. A former U.S Marine,
he currently serves as President of the Association of Continuity Planners (
Liberty
Valley
Chapter,
Pennsylvania
).
Olan
A. Johnston
Olan A. Johnston
has been involved in Public Safety for 20 years as an EMT/paramedic, as well as
a police officer and volunteer firefighter. In 1997, he joined the first
Train the Trainer Team for
Maine
dealing with emergency response to terrorism. In the fall of
2001, he became a WMD Awareness Level Instructor, and he continues to teach both
ERT and WMD response. His background in
EMS
administration, planning and management
allowed him to develop a pilot project in western
Maine
involving both Americorps and the
Medical Reserve Corps, while setting the stage for his current role as
Maine
’s Coordinator for Citizen Corps.
Dr.
George Markowsky
Dr. Markowsky is
Professor and Chair of Computer Science at the
University
of
Maine
. Prior to coming to the
University
of
Maine
, he served as a Staff Member and
Assistant to the Director of Computer Science at IBM’s
Thomas
J.
Watson
Research
Center
. He founded the Homeland Security Lab
in 1999, at which time it was called the Crisis Management Lab. He has done a
wide variety of projects related to homeland security including several
workshops on sensors. He has published papers on the use of neural networks to
gauge plant health and to read license plates, on using the web to glean
information about dangerous individuals and groups, and the use of distributed
computing in homeland security.
In addition to his
work at the
University
of
Maine
, Dr. Markowsky is the President of the
Ayers
Island
LLC
Homeland
Security
Center
. This center provides training
opportunities for first responders, and National Guard Civilian Support Teams.
The Center is also a subcontractor to the System Planning Corporation on two
Operation Safe Commerce projects.
M.
Barry Rhodes, PhD
Dr. M. Barry Rhodes
is the associate director for Public Health Systems Development at the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention in
Atlanta
,
Georgia
. Dr. Rhodes is the chief
technical architect for the Public Health Information Network Messaging System (PHINMS)
which supports routine disease surveillance as well as bio-terrorism response
capabilities. With 10 years experience at CDC as a computer scientist, he also
serves as a senior technical advisor for the National Electronic Disease
Surveillance System (NEDSS), and the Secure Data Network. Additional projects
include work on ASTRO which is a specimen management and tracking system,
Biosense which is an analysis and visualization portal of near real time
pre-diagnostic data, and the Preparedness Data warehouse. Prior to his CDC
appointment, Dr. Rhodes was a faculty member in the Department of Physics at
Clark
Atlanta
University
. He received his doctorate in
computational physics from
Emory
University
in 1983.
Jacqueline
R. Scott
Jacqueline R. Scott
currently serves as a Senior Attorney for the Center for Sustainable Health
Outreach, a part of the Harrison Institute for Public Law at the
Georgetown
University
Law
Center
. She is also an adjunct professor
at the
Law
Center
. Ms. Scott concentrates her work
in the policy and legislative areas of children and family law, health law and
policy, and race and gender equity. Ms. Scott began her career in
policy work serving as lobbyist and legislative council for a civil
liberties/civil rights organization in
Maryland
. Prior to coming to the Center, Ms. Scott served as a policy advisor in
the offices of the Governor and Lt. Governor in the state of Maryland, where she
advised on issues ranging from early childhood development to juvenile justice,
and other children, youth, and family related matters. She holds a dual BA in
Government and Sociology from
Georgetown
University
, a JD from the
Georgetown
University
Law
Center
, and is in the process of completing
her LLM in Advocacy at
Georgetown
.
Dr.
Rima Styra, MD, MEd, FRCP (C)
Dr. Rima Styra is
an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at the
University
of
Toronto
. She is Director of Continuing Medical
Education for the University Health Network Department of Psychiatry. A staff
psychiatrist working in the Psychosomatic Medicine Program at the University
Health Network, Dr. Styra has a special interest in the psychosocial
aspects of infectious diseases. She has completed research in the area of
isolation of patients for nosocomial infections-methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE). She
and her team have completed a number of projects related to SARS and are in the
data collection phase of a follow-up study of patients diagnosed with SARS. The
titles of the completed studies are: Quality
of Life in Patients Diagnosed with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) – An
Acute Phase Study of Patients Diagnosed with SARS; Psychological
Impact on Healthcare Workers – The Psychological Effects on Healthcare Workers
Working in High-Risk Areas of a Major Toronto Teaching Hospital During the SARS
Outbreak, and An Internet-Based
Quarantine Study.
Dr.
R. Steven Tharratt, M.D. M.P.V.M
Dr. R. Steven
Tharratt, M.D. M.P.V.M, is Professor of Medicine and Anesthesiology as well as
Chief, Section of Clinical Pharmacology and Medical Toxicology, Division of
Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the
University
of
California Davis
. He is Medical Science Advisor to the
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES) and the California
State Emergency Services Authority. He is also Medical Director for Sacramento
County Emergency Medical Services and all
Sacramento
City
and County Fire Agencies. He is a
member of the State Standing Committee on terrorism, the northern California FBI
joint terrorism task force, and the California State Threat Assessment Team. Dr.
Tharratt received his MD degree from the
University
of
California Los Angeles
and his Master of Preventative
Veterinary Medicine Degree from the
University
of
California Davis
. He has published widely on biodefense
issues and has research interests in the relationship between the medical and
veterinary medical disciplines in response to biodefense and emerging zoonotic
diseases.
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