Public Health Scene

The University of Minnesota School of Public Health was one of seven schools nationwide to be awarded a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention grant, which will provide $8.2 million to the school over five years for a new preparedness and emergency response research center.

“The University of Minnesota has always been recognized for its technology-enhanced simulation. This is an opportunity to bring these resources and the expertise of our public health preparedness systems, educational effectiveness, and exercises in simulation to a national level,� said Debra Olson, associate dean for public health practice education and principal investigator of the project.

The University of Minnesota project will focus its research on how to enhance the usefulness and facilitation of emergency response training. The project, “University of Minnesota: Simulations and Exercises for Educational Effectiveness� (U-SEEE), will identify best practices for the design and delivery of preparedness training and facilitate the translation of research results into improvements in public health preparedness systems.

“The CDC’s funding of these types of research centers is really a move in a very unique and important direction,� Olson told the Minnesota Daily. “We’ll know what makes education more effective to improve performance in response conditions.�

More about the $8.2 million grant from the Minnesota Daily
Read the news release