Institute for Disease and Disaster Preparedness Research Background and Directions
Research related to the logistics of disease and disaster preparedness includes a broad range of topics. While the majority of our research focuses on emergency response logistics for events arising within the United States, we also address logistics issues related to pandemics and diseases found elsewhere, such as delivering antiretroviral therapy for people with AIDS in resource-limited settings. Another important component of our research agenda relates to the public health system informatics. The founding co-directors of the Institute and collaborating faculty have had significant amounts of experience underwriting research in these and related areas, and hence are capable of organizing and leading a world-class research environment.
Background
During the past six years Cornell researchers have made important contributions to the science of public health response logistics. Dr. Nathaniel Hupert, Associate Professor of Public Health and Medicine, and his team at Weill Cornell Medical College initiated this work in 2000, and have, in the past three years, been joined by faculty of the School of Operations Research and Information Engineering. One of the School’s faculty, John Muckstadt, PhD, the Acheson-Laibe Professor of Engineering, has collaborated with Dr. Hupert and his team on a number of models, several of which have received wide use for local, state/regional, and Federal planning (see Table).
Major Cornell Public Health Response Logistics Models
| Date | Model Name | Client | Development Lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | BERM, the Weill Cornell Bioterrorism and Epidemic Outbreak Response Model | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ | N. Hupert |
| 2004 | Regional Hospital Caseload Calculator | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ | N. Hupert and J. Cuomo |
| 2005 | Hospital Surge Capacity Optimization and Utilization Tool | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ | N. Hupert and D. Wattson |
| 2005-7 | Catastrophic Patient Allocation Model | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ ; Lockheed Martin Corporation | J. Muckstadt, S. Chinchalkar, N. Hupert, W. Xiong |
| 2006 | SurgeModel (www.surgemodel.org) | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ | N. Hupert and J. Muckstadt |
| 2006 | TriSCT, the Triage and Surge Capacity Tool | U.S. DHHS, AHRQ and Columbia University National Center for Disaster Preparedness | N. Hupert, E. Hollingsworth, and W. Xiong |
| 2006-7 | Stochastic simulation model of health system response to large-scale disasters and epidemics | Roche Pharmaceuticals | J. Muckstadt, D. Murray, P. Jackson, W. Xiong, E. Hollingsworth, N. Hupert |
| 2007 | LabMod—a Web-based model for predicting clinical laboratory requirements for HIV treatment | William J. Clinton Foundation, HIV/AIDS Initiative | W. Xiong, E. Hollingsworth, N. Hupert |
| 2007 | Hospital Self-Prophylaxis Model | NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital | W. Xiong, E. Hollingsworth, N. Hupert, J. Muckstadt, J. Vorenkamp, E. Lazar |
| 2007 | Stochastic model of HIV/AIDS treatment scale-up in sub-Saharan Africa | N/A | J. Muckstadt, M. Al-Gwaiz, W. Xiong, K. King, E. Hollingsworth, N. Hupert |
On August 2-3, 2007, leading researchers in the field of public health emergency response logistics convened at the Manhattan campus of the Cornell University School of Operations Research and Information Engineering. The event was sponsored by the Intel Corporation and was organized by Professor Muckstadt, Dr. Hupert, and David Murray, Ph.D., Assistant Dean and Clinical Professor at The Mason School of Business at the College of William and Mary. The presenters, experts from universities, government agencies, national labs, and corporations around the country in the fields of engineering, computer science, emergency medicine, biology, and policy analysis, described their work in planning for potential emergencies such as pandemic flu outbreaks and biological or chemical terrorism. The meeting concluded with an idea sharing session that focused on formulating a coordinated research agenda and developing strategies for effectively presenting proposals to clinicians and policy makers. More on the conference
The Institute’s research will continue to focus on both response logistics for emergencies (modeling, algorithms, and informatics), long-term decision making for HIV/AIDS remediation, and medical informatics related to emergency response logistics.
