Prior Research Programs

This two-year cooperative agreement (2015-2017) with the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) supported the translation, application, and evaluation of promising research products and trainings developed by the Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Centers (PERRCs) and the Preparedness and Emergency Response Learning Centers (PERLCs), all funded by the CDC. ASPPH is coordinated nine subproject awards to nine former PERRC and PERLC investigators, to synthesize PERRC and PERLC program outcomes and promote uptake of PERRC and PERLC products into broader public health practice and policy.

• • PERRC Toolkit Inventory
  • PERLC Training Catalog

Funded under the Hurricane Sandy Recovery and Rebuilding Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2013, this two-year research program represented the first time HHS has been able to fund research needed by local communities to determine the best ways to prepare for and recover from natural disasters like hurricanes. CDC issued thirteen awards to investigators partnering with public health partners in Sandy affected disaster areas. Five research projects administered by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health addressed health hazard exposure, recognition, and mitigation among response workers and volunteers. The eight cooperative agreements administered by CPR (five coordinated by National Center for Environmental Health investigators, three by CPR) focused on the topic areas of mold mitigation and related health issues, characterization of death and disease after the hurricane, and evaluation of public health systems response.

• • • Hurricane Sandy Research Portfolio
    • Hurricane Sandy Publications
    • Hurricane Sandy Factsheet

PERRCs conducted research to evaluate the structure, capabilities, and performance of public health systems for preparedness and emergency response. In 2008, the CDC awarded five-year research grants to seven accredited schools of public health to establish PERRCs. In 2009, CDC awarded four-year grants to two additional schools of public health to establish PERRCs. All nine research centers received an additional year of funding in 2013 to further develop and translate evidence-based PHPR tools into practice.

• • • PERRC Awards
    • PERRC Publications
    • PERRC Toolkit Inventory

In 2013 the CDC awarded a two-year contract to NORC at the University of Chicago to conduct a mixed methods study identifying areas of public health preparedness and response that require additional research to validate, improve, and inform programmatic operations, policy decisions, and public health practices, based on the perceptions of practice community leaders and CDC subject matter experts.

• • • Publication: Identifying and Prioritizing Information Needs and Research Priorities of Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Practitioners

This two-year research contract was awarded to Avar Consulting, Inc. to evaluate the CDC’s Public Health Preparedness Capabilities published in 2011. Avar conducted a survey and follow-up focus group with the 62 awardees of the CDC Public Health Emergency Preparedness cooperative agreement program, to understand to what extend the awardees view the fifteen capabilities

• • • Publication: How Health Department Contextual Factors Affect Public Health Preparedness (PHP) and Perceptions of the 15 PHP Capabilities

This one-year contract was awarded to the UPMC Center for Health Security to develop an evidence-informed checklist that outlines action steps for medical and public health authorities, in partnership with nongovernmental organizations and private industry, to assess and strengthen the resilience of their community’s health sector in the face of Ebola Virus Disease and other highly infectious diseases.

• • • Final Project Report

This research contract was awarded to the UPMC Center for Health Security in 2014 to investigate health sector lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy and identify practical steps communities can take to improve health sector resilience to future disasters.

• • • Final Project Report
    • Publication:A Community Checklist for Health Sector Resilience Informed by Hurricane Sandy

This one-year contract was awarded to the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in 2016 to investigate why states may have deviated from CDC issued guidance during the 2014 United States domestic Ebola Virus outbreak response, both in formation and implementation of domestic response policies, and to find out what federal partners can do to assist states in making science-based decisions in response to disease outbreaks.

In 2007, the CDC awarded a three-year translational research grant to the University of Michigan School of Public Health to examine how the law shapes the public health system’s preparedness activities and its response to a wide range of public health threats. Investigators conducted case studies in nine states and interviewed key federal officials to investigate the interpretation, implementation, and consistency of applicable laws, and examine legal facilitators and barriers to preparedness efforts.

• • • Publication: Achieving public health legal preparedness: how dissonant views on public health law threaten emergency preparedness and response
    • Publication:The role of law in public health preparedness: opportunities and challenges

In 2009, the CDC awarded a three-year translational research grant to the American Medical Association Center for Public Health Preparedness and Disaster Response. The project sought to understand what personalized health information and device could be used that carried essential data elements to identify individuals and meet their immediate health needs in the first four days after a public health disaster.

• • • Publication: Personal Derived health Information: A Foundation to Preparing the US for Disasters and Public Health Emergencies