Recent events have forced Congress and the American people to demand better public health preparedness for and emergency response to natural biological events or intentional bioterrorist acts. Previous Congresses have passed the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act (in the 107^th) and Project BioShield (in the 108^th). The 109^th Congress has seen the introduction of several more acts intended to facilitate countermeasure (vaccine and drug) research and development, procurement, and distribution/administration. In addition, the topics presented in this series are extremely relevant to the reauthorization of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002.

Security for a New Century, in partnership with the Center for Science, Technology, and Security Policy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, will present a four-part seminar series outlining key points of public health preparedness: identifying the public health threat, detecting biological agents, preventing public health threats or treating infections, and responding in a public health emergency.

Previous Events

Seminar 1 – Identifying the public health threat: For what are we looking?
Speaker – Lonnie King, DVM
Date and time – March 13, 2006 at 2:00pm
Location - Senate Dirksen, Room 628

Seminar 2 -Early detection and reporting of public health threats: How can we catch a threat before it becomes an epidemic?
Speaker –Diane Matuszak, MD, MPH and Mark Smolinski, MD, MPH
Date and time – April 3, 2006 at 2:00pm
Location - Senate Dirksen, Room 430

Seminar 3 –Public health countermeasures: What is the impact of pathogen resistance on our vaccine and drug supply?
Speaker - Gigi Kwik Gronvall, PhD
Date and time – April 19, 2006 at 2:00pm
Location - Senate Dirksen, Room 419

Seminar 4 -First responders, surge capacity, and informed health care staff: Are we ready to respond to a public health emergency?
Speaker –Philip Coyle, MS and J. Eric Dietz, PhD, PE
Date and time – May 5, 2006 at 10:30am
Location – Senate Dirksen, Room 628

Seminars are structured to allow maximum time available for Q&A. We look forward to your attendance and participation at this series.

"Security for a New Century" is a bipartisan study group for Congress. We meet regularly with U.S. and international policy professionals to discuss the post Cold War and post 9/11 security environment. All discussions are off-the-record. It is not an advocacy venue.