About Us

Prepare the public health and healthcare workforces, and others for:

• Biological, chemical, radiological or nuclear threats or emergencies
• Industrial and transportation accidents
• Infectious disease outbreaks
• Natural disasters
• Protecting the safety, physical and mental health of:
  
  • Emergency responders
  • Public health and health care workers, and
  • the general public

Educate and train through:

• Seminars, lectures, conferences, and courses
• Online content prepared by our experts
• Distance education

Our training targets a broad spectrum of public health and emergency management professionals, including health officers, environmental health specialists, communicable disease staff, infection control professionals, epidemiologists, health educators, higher education professionals, and the general public, as well as students enrolled in formal education programs.

In addition to the CDC funding awarded specifically to create the Center, we have been working on related efforts funded by the NJ Department of Health and Senior Services through the Federal Preparedness Plan (Focus Area G), the National Institute of Health Sciences, and other agencies. Some of these activities include:

• Participated in development and implementation of a 40-hour bioterrorism training program for public health professionals
• Conducted, with the Academy of Medicine of NJ, the Roving Symposia on the response to biological terrorism
• Published, in New Jersey Medicine, a series of articles on counter-terrorism and other preparedness issues for the medical community
• Conducted needs assessments with key public health professional groups across the state
• Enhanced the skills of New Jersey’s county-based epidemiologists through the Field Epidemiology Education Program. The program reached over 30 epidemiologists in monthly sessions, delivering training on the threats posed by biological weapons, food-borne illnesses, seasonal and pandemic influenza, and other infectious diseases

In addition to providing top-quality training through traditional methods, the Center uses emerging technology and sound educational principles to effectively meet the training needs of busy public health and medical professionals. The Center provides collaborative learning relationships and access to educational materials through a variety of distance education media.