Public Health Preparedness Conference

Date:  February 16, 2010 - February 19, 2010

Location:  Atlanta, Georgia

The 2010 Public Health Preparedness Summit, "Partners in Preparedness: Engaging a Community for a Successful Public Health Response," will strengthen and enhance the capabilities of public health professionals and other participants to plan and prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters and other public health emergencies. The Summit will achieve this goal by providing knowledge and learning sessions that enable participants to:

  • Identify current priority areas in public health preparedness at the local, state, tribal, and national levels;
  • Identify key gaps in planning, workforce development, and performance measurement across the public health system;
  • Access key resources and tools that will enhance or sustain their professional work or volunteer role in planning for, responding to, and recovering from disasters and other public health emergencies; and
  • Develop a network of professional colleagues who share a commitment to improving, enhancing, and sustaining the public health response to disasters.

The Challenge

The task of assuring the security of our homeland involves protecting the citizens of the United States, the nation's critical infrastructure and key assets. This is necessary to sustain the nation's vitality against terrorism and other threats. This protection must originate at the community level. It requires discovering, developing and deploying new technology that will support first responders and key decision makers in local communities.

The Mission

NIHS' mission is to discover, develop and deploy solutions that protect and preserve the critical infrastructure of the nation's communities.

The Institute

NIHS aligns projects and research objectives with the needs and requirements of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. The strategy is to manage a distributed research enterprise that effectively transitions research and development into solutions. NIHS works with DHS to determine technology needs at the community level. Then, teams are quickly assembled from multiple universities to develop solutions to the needs.

The Strategy

Through management of the Kentucky Critical Infrastructure Protections Program (KCI), the National Institute for Hometown Security (NIHS) provides an ongoing, integrated program dedicated to developing new technologies and devices. NIHS works through qualified academic institutions to accomplish the technological objectives.