Region 3 Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security (CHS) and the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) lead the Regional Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) for US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Region 3, which includes Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
This work is part of a national initiative to enhance public health preparedness and response (PHPR) capabilities across the United States. The 10 Regional Centers form a network and improve communities’ readiness and response to public health threats through implementation of evidence-based strategies and interventions.
The Region 3 PHPR Center uses a framework developed through collaboration with regional stakeholders and focuses on 1) Communication and Community Engagement; 2) Coordination Across Agencies, Community Organizations, and Systems; and 3) Workforce Recruitment, Retention, and Competencies Growth. The results build agency capabilities, increase community resilience, and apply to all types of hazards. This framework also supports sustainable communities of practice for public health preparedness and response in Region 3.
Figure 1: Region 3 PHPR Center Focus Areas and Priorities
For more information, please visit Regional Centers for Public Health Preparedness and Response.
Team
Project team leads: Tara Kirk Sell, PhD, MA; Crystal Watson, DrPH, MPH; Erin M. Sorrell, PhD, MSc; J. Lee Jenkins, MD, MS, FACEP
Project team: Jonathan Links, PhD; Gabor Kelen, MD, FACEP; Eric Toner, MD; Tener Goodwin Veenema, PhD, MPH, MS, RN, FAAN; Aishwarya Nagar, MPH; Vanessa Grégoire, MSc; Madi Neufeld, MPS; May Han, MSPH
Project partners:
- James Kendra, Director, University of Delaware Disaster Research Center
- Jennifer Horney, Professor and Founding Director of the program in Epidemiology, University of Delaware and University of Delaware Disaster Research Center
- Cynthia Baur, Director, Horowitz Center for Health Literacy at the University of Maryland
- Cathy Slemp, MD, MPH, former health commissioner of West Virginia
Past team members and/or partners:
- Gabor Kelen, MD, FACEP
- May Han, MSPH
Supported by: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Office of Readiness and Response (ORR) Division of Readiness and Response Science (DRRS) CDC awarded a total of $9,054,230 across 10 institutions (one in each HHS region) for the first year of the 5-year cooperative agreement, subject to available funding.
Steering Committee (listed alphabetically):
- Jillian Austin, BS, AAS, Director, Office of Preparedness, Delaware Department of Health and Social Services/ Division of Public Health
- Sara Barra, MS, CPM, CBCP, Director, Office of Preparedness and Response, Maryland Department of Health
- The Rev. Phillip Huber, Chair, Maryland VOAD
- Jonathan (Sam) Hurley, MPH, EMPS, NRP, Senior Deputy Director, Health Systems and Preparedness Administration, DC Health
- Michael Kilkenny, MD, MS, Chief Executive Officer and Health Officer for Cabell-Huntington Health Department
- Ben Brown, Director, Office of Threat Preparedness, West Virginia Department of Health
- James Moss, State Hospital Coordinator, Office of Emergency Preparedness, Virginia Department of Health
- Andrew Pickett, MS, Director, Bureau of Emergency Preparedness and Response, Pennsylvania Department of Health
Resources
View and download the Center’s practitioner-focused, user-friendly resources here