February 12, 2007
February 09, 2007
Relaxing after the conference.
February 08, 2007
Final Thoughts
I’m home now, and my attention goes often to the different issues that were raised at the conference. From what I had heard about last year’s summit, businesses now at least have been thinking about a plan for pandemic influenza. Many businesses have made some decent progress, and so this indeed is a success. However, now that people have started looking into the implications of a pandemic, they find that they have opened a big can of worms: many complex problems exist and need to be addressed. We haven’t found all of the solutions yet, and in all likelihood there will not be a solution to every problem. In short, we will have to deal. That isn’t a very optimistic outlook to have, but I feel that it is a realistic approach to such a potential for disaster. The important point: just because the task at hand is daunting, doesn’t mean that it is impossible to think about or plan for. We should all do what we can, and that means YOU!
Brrrr... I miss Orlando
At conclusion of the summit yesterday afternoon a few of us waded into the pool in our business casual wear, trying desperately to catch a bit of sun just to show everyone back home we actually did enjoy the Orlando weather, but we all knew we had to come back to reality and the frigid below zero temps that were a short plane ride away. The plane ride back gave me time to reflect on the last couple of days, and all of the information I had heard regarding pandemic preparedness. I must admit when I opened the USA today newspaper I had taken from the hotel, and saw there was an article about bird flu, I almost skipped over it, having felt I had reached my two day limit concerning all things flu related. After reading it though and acknowledging that much of information in the article was still unknown to me, I realized there is still so much about the situation that is constantly changing and still unknown to everyone.
That afterthought was pretty much the theme of the conference for me. There were so many issues brought up by the various speakers that I had never even considered as potential consequences of a pandemic, and the amount of planning that is needed to prevent such consequences is a daunting task. One such example of a consequence of a severe pandemic that I had never even considered is the potential crashing of the internet. If millions of people were forced to stay home and work from home combined with millions of students forced to take online classes, the online world ( of which I technically know very little about) would crash. Members of my family have a hard enough time going 1 day without checking their email, imagine if the internet, something we almost take for granted today, were gone. How would the world of instant gratification get their news? How would we stay up to date with what is going on with the Pandemic? This is something I never even thought about until yesterday.
There was an additional panel held during the end of day that I found very interesting about vaccines and antivirals. Dr. Osterholm took a poll on the percentage of companies present at the summit who had already begun to stockpile antivirals or N-95 masks, and somewhere between 25-35% answered they already had taken this action. One of the panelists, however, remarked that Tamiflu only has a shelf life of 5 years max, and N-95 masks only have a shelf life between 3-5 years. These statistics make me nervous as to what will happen if a pandemic doesn't occur for say 7 years, and rather than keeping up the stockpiles, companies let down their guard and decide not to invest any more money ( since all they had spent on the previous supplies will have gone down the drain) in supplies or say even planning. Then if a Influenza Pandemic does occur would they be less prepared than today?
I guess I should not be so negative on what could happen, but reflect more on the positives that came out of the summit. The summit gave large businesses and their leaders the chance to communicate with one another and with experts in the field of public health to prepare their business and protect their employees. I am really grateful for the opportunity I had to have a window into the world of pandemic preparedness, and listen to so many experts give differing viewpoints concerning the pandemic and what could happen. I truly wish I would have had more time, say a week, in Orlando (most of that is due to the fact it took me a good 5-10 minutes to get out of my boots, hat, gloves, scarf, coat, and long underwear when I returned home from class today), but also to have heard more information, particularly the questions other attendees had, about the topic of pandemic preparedness. It was really a fascinating couple of days and I'm happy to have had the chance to attend.
February 07, 2007
Thoughts from the plane
On the flight back to Minneapolis I had quite a bit of time to think about the summit and the value it provided me as a student and a future public health practitioner. As you probably guessed, we did not get a “free” ride down to the summit. We all worked various aspects of the summit. The jobs that I had involved working at the registration table (helped check is some really neat/important people), assisting presenters at the breakout seasons and running microphones to attendees with questions during the general seasons. This allowed me to see an aspect of the summit that I would not have seen without working parts of it.
We worked hand in hand with the fabulous crew from Metro Connections (the people that “ran” the conference). While this only provided a glimpse at the magnitude of work/time that went into the conference planning and production, it was very informative. It was very interesting to observe all the work that happens behind the scenes to make a conference or event go smoothly. It was also interesting to watch how a well-defined communication system worked. I have never personal seen how a well-defined communications system works in person, until now.
I thought there were tons of parallels between how the conference went and how things should be planned/produced on the public health side, aside from the fact the conference had huge public health implications. I plan to attend many more conferences and hope to be able to help plan and execute more in the future, but on a more practical side I hopefully will be playing an active part in mitigating infectious disease threats in my job. I would also imagine that meetings, work groups, forums, etc will be part of that job and I hope I remember the little things that I saw at the conference that made it run so smoothly, as they could all be adapted to whatever I do in the future. Things like being courteous, being prompt, knowing your role in the event, knowing who/where to go to get your question answered, being firm yet kind and respect are things most of us would think are commonplace but they are not. Its was interesting to see how the simple things I just listed (there are many more) made the conference function so much. Sure, the staff at Metro Connections is paid to be like that, but there is a reason why they do it. It makes their customers (the summit attendees) fell appreciated, respected and cared for. I was thinking if we (future public health practitioners) were more like that, we could probably get more done. In a sense, a lot of the partners/clients/business/public are customers of agency we work for. Public health in my opinion fits into many functional categories (health care, public works, public service, etc) and from my limited experience the “service” aspect of our work is sometimes forgotten, even though I think its one of the main reasons we are in the field (i.e. provide benefit to humanity).
Another point that became clear to me at the summit is that people want quick fixes to problems and that solutions are very rarely quick fixes. Towards the end of the summit, a poll was taken on what percent of companies have pandemic planning budgets only 25% did. Of that 25%, the funding was/is a one time deal for 55% of the companies. How can we expect to plan for something so complicated as pandemic influenza (or other public health issues) with one time funding. These are ongoing and complex issues and will not be fixed by devoting resources for a short amount of time to them. Patience and financial resource normally do not go hand in hand, but are required for pandemic influenza planning (and a plethora of things).
Heading home
Things are winding down at the Summit, and we have a little down time before catching our flight back to the Frozen North… I’ll just take this opportunity to inform the blogosphere that indeed these words are being typed poolside…
The final day of the summit was a good one. Julie Gerberding got things started with an animated talk about the CDC’s experiences on preparedness during the Anthrax attacks of 2001. She was candid in speaking of the mistakes that the agency made with false assumptions, and how they had to adapt their decision-making as information became available. Quite distressing is the fact that the perpetrators were never caught—meaning that it could happen again!? But the American public in general isn’t concerned about that. So it goes with our attention spans, and that is also the case with public concerns about avian & pandemic influenza. There was a large amount of media attention over a year ago, then the fervor died down even as bird & human cases continued to mount. Recent emergences of the H5N1 virus in a turkey flock in England have engaged the public’s attention again, and we all hope that this can become a “teachable moment” to encourage more people to begin their preparations for a pandemic.
The panel discussions that followed almost seemed to raise more concerns than resolutions. Experts from corporate human resources, government officials, and media personnel all discussed the various issues that needed address. How to cover sick leave for 30% of all employees and keep business running? What is the government’s role in making vaccine available? What about local governmental efforts? And importantly, will the newsmedia be a reliable source of information? What will the effect of non-vetted blogs be?
There was much interest among the conference attendees on how to manage worker absenteeism. I went to a breakout session in the afternoon that highlighted the plans of two different business models, and how they plan to keep operations running in the face of a pandemic. The first model is an internet service giant, where more than 70% of the workforce can realistically work from home when an outbreak strikes. Their major concern is therefore how to make sure that the telecommunications network continues to operate. The other corporation is a grocery store chain, who needs to have people physically continuing to deliver food items to stores—truck drivers & cashiers obviously can’t work from home. Their concerns were then completely different—how will the demand for groceries change? How to protect employees so they don’t get sick? What kind of unforeseen food shortages will occur, and whether to ration out scarce supplies all are complex questions. The representative of the company also admitted that many of the food suppliers for the grocery chain did not have well-laid plans yet, and there was discussion among the group about how to get the whole supply chain involved.
The ending session of the day dealt with the existing protective measures against Influenza: vaccines, respirators, antivirals, and masks. Approximately 25% of the companies present at the summit had invested in one of these protective devices, and there was much discussion about the usefulness. Unfortunately, the consensus was reached that there truly is no “magic bullet” that will spare everyone.
February 06, 2007
the second day
This was another fantastic day. It could not have started off better, as Dr. Julie Gerberding (Director of the CDC) delivered the morning presentation. It was interesting to see her present hours after learning about proposed massive budget cuts again and days after the CDC’s Community Mitigation Guidance. Her presentation focused on the CDC actions on preparedness and the lessons they have learned in the last few years. A major part of her presentation was on the Anthrax attacks in 2001 and the CDC’s response. The numbers she shared were shocking. For example, the CDC in a given month would receive 40-50 phone call about anthrax. From October 10 to November 4 they received 9488 phone calls. It can only begin to imagine all the lessons they learned from this. Nobody expected or had prepared for that many calls. An even more surprising statistic she gave was that there were over 250,000 tests preformed in the US testing for anthrax. Nobody again foresaw the massive surge in testing or the difficulty in producing the reagents for the tests. It was nice to know that the CDC is building the best they can off these experiences. I don’t envy anyone working on pandemic influenza stuff down there. The Federal plan mandates over 1600 items for the CDC to do and their budget keeps being cut. I used to think that the CDC had tons of problems and was not pushing as hard as they could. I now stand corrected, its clear they are pushing as hard as they can and their resources allow. I have a renewed and deepening respect for Dr. Gerberding and all the staff at the CDC now. They are doing amazing things, while making due with dwindling resources. That does not mean I agree with all of their guidance, but now I have a slight understanding of the difficulty it takes to produce them and the value they provide for national discussion, so the ideas can be fully flushed out and refined.
After Dr. Gerberding’s speech there where three panel discussions. They were simply amazing. It was delightful to hear experts in their fields answering questions and commenting on aspects of pandemic planning. There was a panel on human resources and pandemic preparedness, the role of business and government in pandemic planning and one on what to expect from the media during a pandemic. It was neat to see the reporters who have been writing the stories about H5N1 that I have been reading. It was also nice to see the government being asked tough questions on pandemic preparedness by the moderator and audience. We are making progress but still got quite a long way to go.
After lunch we had breakout seasons again. I was able to get to the breakout seasons on company planning case studies, which was fascinating. The presenters described their companies plans and planning process in detail and then turned the floor over to the audience for over an hour of discussion. The presentations were great but I enjoyed the frank and honest discussion that followed. It was so cool to see companies (even competitors) offering suggestions to each other on how to prepare, from the mistakes they made in planning.
After the breakouts there was one last general gathering and a panel discussion. This panel discussion was probably my favorite, just because I am nerd. The panel contained one of the best minds on vaccines (Dr. Greg Poland), a brilliant infectious disease specialist (Dr. Mike Tapper), the public health manager for 3M (Edwin Scott) and the medical director for ISOS (Dr. Doug Quarry). They were asked some really tough questions by Dr. Osterholm (he moderated this panel) on what business should be doing with vaccines, antivirals, masks and respirators. They conceded that we do not have many medical options for the world. A luck few will get antivirals and masks/respirators with unknown efficacy and far fewer will get a vaccine that probably wont protect them much.
WOW
Wow…that’s how I would describe the first day. The opening remarks by Dr. Osterholm really showed how big a deal this conference really is: There are almost 200 companies represented here, over 2 trillion in revenue and half of the participants are top planners (CEO’s, Presidents, VP, etc). Then Dr. Margaret Chan talked about the importance of planning and the critical aspects that the business community will plan during a pandemic, i.e. they make the things that we will need as a society to keep functioning.
After her remarks, Dr. Osterholm then proceeded to describe the “Fog of Pandemic Preparedness”. It was pretty clear why he referenced “Fog” in his presentation. The more business prepare the more they realize they are not prepared. Its kind of like traveling down a road, where the destination is known but the directions keep changing as the fog rolls in so you cant see what your driving past. I thought the most interesting part of the presentation was the point he made about the US only investing 10 million ($US) in vaccine production capacity internationally. His clear call for a larger investment resonated loudly as there were some senior government officials in the room, along with some of the best and brightest from the business world.
Dr. Peter Sandman followed Dr. Osterholm’s presentation with a wonderful clear take on risk communication. I guess that is to be expected though, as he is a risk communication expert. One the many interesting points that he made was that it is ok to scare people. He made this very clear later on in the day when he was on a panel. Evidently, children are really good at understanding “bad” things. When you think of lots of children’s books they typically have a scary/tragic part to them. The problem with scaring children is that your freak out their parents who are worried about you scaring/hurting their children. My big take home point was to remember who else is impacted by what your communication…educating children/impact on their parents or educating employees/impact on consumers.
Then Michael Evangelides presented the results of a survey Deloitte did on business preparedness for pandemic influenza…there was lots of information in his presentation some really good (more people are preparing) some not so good (6% of respondents believe their supply chain would survive a pandemic).
Then it was off to a fantastic lunch, where we heard John Barry describe the history of the 1918-19 pandemic. It was amazing to hear little details that did not make it into his book and his thoughts on things like the new CDC Community Mitigation guidance. We learned later (during a little private time with him) that it took seven years for him to write The Great Influenza and he would not have done it if he realized how much work it was going to be. I imagine lots of people are glad that he did…it’s the best record of what happened back then. Brings up that age old saying, “those that don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”. I sure hope we keep learning and can figure out a way to prevent a repeat of 1918-19.
After lunch we had breakout seasons (there were 8 different ones). I ended up going to the one called “Designing and Conducting Effective Tabletop Exercises”. Dr. Kris Moore and Jill DeBoer (both from CIDRAP) presented and surprised me. I had heard how much work it was to do a “good” tabletop before but had no idea how much work was actually involved. I just hope I can find all my notes and remember this seasons in the future, when I am involved in tabletop exercises.
Just before dinner, we had the opportunity to meet the Honorable Madeleine Albright. This was a real treat, as it is very rarely you have the opportunity to hear such an figure speak candidly on topics ranging from why more people in public health should be in diplomatic service to her experience being Secretary of State and a mother. She then delivered a rather interesting speech drawling on her experience with disasters with thoughts toward the future, specifically on pandemic preparedness. She also thanked us for being there and working of the issue. The audience really appreciated that as most of the planning and work done for preparing for emergency and disasters is rarely used, and thus a “thank less job”.
Like I said, WOW what a day and tomorrow looks fantastic.
Madeline Albright
Last night we had the wonderful opportunity to meet with Madeline Albright, and even though she stands about 4 foot 10, she's seems tough as nails and yet is extremely eloquent. While we only had about 10 minutes with her she discussed the importance of public health and education in today's society. A fellow student asked her how she balances family life with work, to which she answered "Unfortunately, every mother's middle name is guilt", and spoke on the importance of helping each other out, commenting that "there is a special place in hell for a woman who fails to help another woman" See what I mean, tough but eloquent. Her speech stressed the importance of preparing for the worst and learning from past failures to prevent or at the least diminish future failures.
She discussed the parallels between what happened after hurricane Katrina and how not preparing for a pandemic of Influenza, could result in the same sort of disastrous public health, economical national crisis. A fellow student and I were discussing about how Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, and how much of New Orleans could have been spared with the construction of sufficient levees However, because there was the mindset of "it won't/can't happen to us", and "let us deal with issues at hand versus preparing for the worst", the absolute worst situation did happen, and the area and people that were directly affected, in addition to those indirectly affected, are still struggling to comeback. That is how we justified the importance of devoting resources to pandemic preparedness even though there are obviously a countless number of other public health problems facing the country and the world today.
This morning Julie Gerberding, the director of the CDC, talked about the challenges facing pandemic preparedness as well as steps the CDC is taking to combat those challenges. There were also three panel discussions held this morning. The first one was on how various large businesses are addressing pandemic preparedness with representatives from Tyson, Exxon Mobile, 3M, and Deloitte discussing the steps they have already taken and the challenges they have been facing. The second panel discussion was on the role of government and pandemic preparedness. A question I had after this discussion arose after Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, who was representing the Department of Homeland Security, made the comment that the federal government is trying to make clear now that if a pandemic of influenza were to hit the U.S., state and local governments need to be prepared to deal with the situation, and not look to the federal government for much aid. I wonder how they expect state and local governments to be adequately prepared in the face of large budget cuts, where many state and local offices are left with a limited amount of resources that are often devoted to problems that are already happening, versus a situation like pandemic influenza that does not have a definitive arrival date.
The third panel discussion was on the role of the media in the light of a pandemic of flu. There were writers and reporters from such media as the Washington Post and Bloomberg News among others on the panel. One thing I never even thought about was how the internet may be affected if a severe pandemic hit. If millions of people were forced to stay home, work from home and students would have to attend online classes, the internet would be overloaded and could crash. Since the internet is a place where a growing percentage of people rely of receiving their daily news, panic, frustration, and fear of the unknown could occur. Bottom line, things have been brought to my attention that I never would have even thought about in terms of how important planning and being prepared is.
Margaret Chan, WHO Director-General, shares a global perspective
Students meet with John Barry, author of The Great Influenza
Q&A with Madeleine Albright
SPH Dean John Finnegan talks with Madeleine Albright
Mike Osterholm Opens the Summit
Photo: Emily Thompson
Photo: Barbara Knust
Photo: Nick Kelley
Students meet with Madeleine Albright
Early Riser
I thought I'd check in this morning before today's schedule gets under way. Yesterday afternoon I went to a breakout session about supply chain security. Let me back up-- the world depends on a global supply chain to keep our cars running with enough fuel, our grocery stores stocked with food, as well as daily delivery of life-saving medications. Businesses that operate within the United States recognize that when a severe pandemic strikes, they will need to formulate a plan to continue operations and protect their employees. At the supply chain breakout, I almost felt like there were more questions than answers. One overarching theme: the government cannot step in and save everyone. The role that the government has assumed up until this point with respect to pandemic influenza is to issue information and guidelines. There have been very few federal mandates. I am interested to find out (and will definitely be asking Dr. Osterholm when we return) whether there is any movement toward government mandates for business preparedness plans. If it did happen, would it be any good?
As Nick had mentioned, we had a few minutes with Secretary Albright yesterday evening. It was kind of a funny situation because we were all milling around a hallway, locked out of the room that we were supposed to be using, and then all of a sudden Dr. Osterholm, John Barry, and she showed up at once. I think that we all were a little flustered, and when we were asked if anyone had any questions for Secretary Albright. An uncomfortable silence, and then I broke the ice by yammering a question I thought of the other night: What were her strategies for convincing someone of a policy when they don't really care about it? She said it was important to know the facts, and that sometimes you had to scare the audience (Echoes of Sandman's talk earlier that day came back to me).
Later, John Barry also added that dogged determination & persistence are also important skills to have. He said that it took him 7 years to write "The Great Influenza", and that he never would have started writing it had he known that it would take so long. Also, at the time pandemic flu was not on the world's radar screen. Fortunately for his book sales, it quickly has become a well-deserved concern.
February 05, 2007
Greetings from Orlando
Hello everyone from Orlando! We arrived yesterday from bitter cold MN to a not so sunny, but still a welcome 60 degrees, Florida. We received a tour of the hotel complex, found out what was on the agenda for the next couple of days, and had a bit of down time before enjoying dinner and a superbowl party. It was nice to relax a bit before the beginning of the Summit today, which has been jam packed full of interesting information.
Dr. Osterholm openned the morning with a few welcoming remarks, followed by a 20 minute pre-recorded video of Dr. Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the World Health Organization. She spoke about what the WHO is doing in terms of pandemic preparedness on a global scale, and highlighted why being prepared for a pandemic is so vital to the world's population. Following Dr. Chan's video, Dr. Osterholm did a presentation titled "The Fog of Pandemic Preparedness." Something I found very interesting from his talk, is how the media has influenced the general public's awareness of a possible Influenza pandemic. In the fall of 2005, when there was daily media coverage of a possible pandemic of H5N1, the perceived threat (by the general public) was much higher than today. Even though the actual threat of of pandemic is the same or even greater toda, since the media is bored of the story, the general population's level of concern has decreased to levels that hinder preparedness.
Following, Dr. Osterholm's talk, Dr. Peter Sandman, a risk communication consultant, presented on how to communicate the risk Pandemic influenza to participants in the business world. He is a witty speaker, using bits of humor to covey the challenges businesses may face if a pandemic were to hit, as well as how to communicate during times of crisis.
We also had a presentation by Michael Evangelides, a principal in Deloitte's Chicago consulting practice, and a lunch lecture by John Barry, author of "The Great Influenza". It was a bit unappetizing to hear the gruesome descriptions of influenza patients while eating, but as a public health student and medical history nerd, I really enjoyed it. This afternoon, there will be a variety of breakout sessions to attend such as the benefits and opportunities of working with your community before and during a possible pandemic. Followed by this evening's keynote speaker, Madeline Albright, which I am really looking forward to. I will keep you all posted on how it all unfolds...
Wikis, Barrys, and Sandmen
It is midafternoon of the first day at the summit, and so far so good. I sat down to breakfast with a table of other students from our class first thing this morning, and joined a conversation with one of the editors of the Flu Wiki website/blog. His annonymous screen name is DemFromCT, and he is a pediatric pulmonologist in Connecticut. Up until this point he has not gone public with his actual identity, but he will tomorrow when he joins a panel discussion here up on the main stage. I asked him how much time he spends reading and contributing to his blog, especially considering that he does indeed have a full-time job at a hospital, and he said that he usually logs on only for short times during breaks throughout the day. I find that to be quite interesting, because my general impression of a dedicated "blogger" is a person who more or less lives online. I guess I can now count myself as one of the many! We also discussed the CDC's newly released guidelines for community mitigation efforts to reduce the spread of pandemic influenza, and how the emphasis really still relies on each individual community to plan ahead. The federal government cannot make blanket regulations for closing down schools (as an example)-- it is something that must be considered seriously at a local level.
The need for increased awareness and community action was again raised throughout this morning's sessions, and likely will be an overarching theme of this event. The key is getting people to realize that their input in planning out pandemic response is important. Peter Sandman emphasized the need for us to appeal to people's emotions as we try to generate more interest and involvement, and indeed that by getting people to care about the issue of pandemic influenza will be the only way for us to be properly prepared.
At lunch, John Barry gave an excellent historical summary of the 1918 epidemic. His book, "The Great Influenza" is an excellent read, and is regarded highly by scientific communities for its insights and accuracy.
As the many who were watching the Superbowl in Miami last night know, right now Florida's weather is rainy and cool. Even so, temperatures in the 50's are still much warmer than what our colleagues in Minnesota are currently encountering: when we left yesterday morning, the windchill was something like -30! So I won't complain about a lack of sunshine here.
About this Blog
This is a blog from University of Minnesota School of Public Health students who are attending the Business Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza second national summit (February. 5-6, 2007 in Orlando, Fla).
The students are participating in the summit for a course on emerging infectious diseases taught by professor Michael Osterholm, an internationally known expert in the field of pandemic influenza.
Other speakers at the summit include Madeleine Albright, CDC director Julie Gerberding, and WHO director Margaret Chan.
February 02, 2007
Hi All!
My name is Emily Thompson, I grew up on a farm outside of a very small town
in Northern Minnesota. I completed my undergraduate degree at the
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in May 2005, with my B.S. in Child
Psychology and a minor in Russian. I started at the School of Public Health
in the Fall of 2005 in the Maternal and Child Health with an Epidemiology
emphasis program, however, after discovering a more passionate interest in
infectious disease, I switched to the Epidemiology program. I was always
interested in public health due to my mom, who is a nurse and was the ICP
at the hospital up in Bemidji, MN. She also did a lot of traveling,
particularly to Russia, for various health prevention and education
partnerships with the town of Tomsk, Siberia. It was through meeting people
from Tomsk, that I became interested in Russian. Meeting those individuals,
and hearing about their experiences further deepened my interest in
international health and infectious diseases.
What I want to do in my future career in public health constantly changes.
I am interested in working as an epidemiologist for either the state or a
county health department, as well as working in health education/promotion,
I would also loveto have the opportunity to do public health work internationally.
I currently work at the Minnesota Department of Health as a student worker
for the Emerging Infections Program. I primarily work on a research
studying looking at community acquired resistant staph infections
(CA-MRSA), as well as do a bit with MRSA surveillance for the state.
I am really excited about attending the CIDRAP conference in Orlando. The
speakers lined up to lead different sessions and give presentations sound
like they are experts in their field, and I'm sure I will learn a lot of
business preparedness as it is related to a pandemic, something which I
know very little about. I am really looking forward to this great
opportunity!
February 01, 2007
Hello
Hi, my name is Nicholas (Nick) Kelley and I'm from Centennial, CO. I recently earned my BA in biology from Luther College (Decorah, Ia) and I am now a graduate student in the School of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. As an undergraduate student, I had the good fortune of being able to do scientific research, work as a Resident Assistant, and receive a liberal arts education. The three combined into a passion for emerging infectious disease and assisting others. Public health is the best way to blend my love of science, infectious disease and helping people.
I started doing research, on my own accord after reading John Barry's Great Influenza, at Luther during my senior year on the pandemic of 1918-19 with the intention of informing the school and community about the dangers of pandemic influenza. I wrote a paper about the pandemic of 1918-9 that was disseminated to local officials, and an abridged version was published in the local paper. I currently work for Luther assisting in the development of their pandemic plan, and providing daily updates on what is going on in the world with regards to H5N1, for their pandemic influenza planning committee.
I started working for CIDRAP (Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota) in early July and worked on various projects, most of them related to business preparedness for pandemic influenza. During the summer and the first semester, I spent most of my time combing the web finding the "best" resources on pandemic influenza planning and business continuity planning, for the CIDRAP Business Source.
So basically I am living my dream right now...I am pursing a MS in Environmental Health with an emphasis in Infectious Disease, working at CIDRAP, and was recently engaged. I am working at a world class research center, receiving my education at one of the best public health schools in the Nation, and gaining a clearer and clearer vision of what I want to do in the future for a career. I keep telling my co-workers that some mornings....I have to pinch my self, because life feels like a dream right now. I have truly been blessed and am looking forward to what the future holds.
I am planning on continuing my education at the U, pursing a PhD right after my Masters. I plan on eventually working at the state/county level for a bit, doing my best to mitigate emerging infectious disease threats.
I am really excited about the Summit. It will be wonderful to see the planning and preparedness activities I have been reading about for a while in action. I am also looking forward to meeting many of the leaders in pandemic preparedness and doing some networking.
Introductions
Hello, and welcome to the Avian Influenza Summit weblog!
My name is Barbara Knust, and I am a veterinarian who has just started at the School of Public Health in the executive program. I grew up in Michigan, and developed an interest in animals at an early age. I earned a Biology degree at Alma College, a small liberal arts school in Michigan, and then went to veterinary school at Michigan State University. Through my studies I have had quite a few wonderful opportunities to travel internationally and work in a research lab setting. These experiences kindled an interest in both infectious disease and international issues with respect to veterinary medicine and zoonoses—the diseases that can pass from animals to humans.
Although I knew that eventually I wanted to pursue a career in public health, upon graduation from vet school in 2004 I went to work in upstate New York at a mixed animal practice. Many mentors had advised that I spend at least a few years working “in the trenches”, and so I did: with patients ranging from pets to livestock. In my direct area, we had an abundance of small Mennonite dairy farms, backyard horse operations, canine breeding kennels, and of course numerous dogs & cats. It was a wonderful learning experience in emergency management, public education, and improvisation! And I now am armed with plenty of hair-raising stories to tell around campfires…
In the first week of January, I moved out here to the Twin Cities, and started working at the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at the U as a post-doc. My job is to help with teaching public health to veterinary students and work on various public health/food safety projects for the Center—and I get to work on my MPH at the same time.
This is my first semester of classes at SPH. Taking the Emerging Infectious Disease course was a priority for me—mainly because I have a great deal of interest in all of the factors that contribute to epidemics, and thought that this course would be an exciting introduction to my public health education. When I found out that the entire class would be heading to an Avian Influenza preparedness summit, I was really thrilled. Because of my training I have a very scientific view of the disease, and so I expect from the summit my perspective will be broadened to also understand the logistical & organizational consequences.