Ali S. Khan is an American practicing physician and former Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response (PHPR) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since July 2014, he has served as Dean of the College of Public Health and Retired Assistant Surgeon General at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. [1] [2]
Ali Khan received his Doctor of Medicine from the State University of New York Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY, and completed a joint residency in internal medicine and pediatrics at the University of Michigan. He later went on to pursue a Masters of Public Health (MPH) from Emory University. [1]
Khan’s federal career began in 1991 when he joined CDC and the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) officer. [3] Dr. Khan has focused his career on bioterrorism, global health, and emerging infectious diseases. While serving as the interim Director for CDC’s global infectious disease activities, he designed CDC’s joint global field epidemiology and laboratory training program. Dr. Khan helped design and implement the President's Malaria Initiative, [4] a $1.2 billion, five-year project to reduce the burden of malaria and relieve poverty in Africa. [5] He has also been engaged in polio and guinea worm eradication. Additionally, Khan proposed the BioPHusion program as a new public health initiative to improve knowledge exchange for all public health practitioners. BioPHusion was used during the H1N1 pandemic to identify emerging cases and plan response actions. [6]
Khan’s initial work in emergency preparedness started in 1999 when he helped establish CDC’s bioterrorism program, which upgraded local, state, and national public health systems to detect and rapidly respond to bioterrorism. As deputy director of the bioterrorism program, Khan created the Critical Agent list, which has remained the basis for all biological terrorism preparedness. Dr. Khan also published the first national public health preparedness plan, initiated syndrome based surveillance, and designed key focus areas to improve local and State capacities to respond to emergencies. Khan used these preparedness efforts during the first anthrax attack in 2001, during which he directed the CDC operational response in Washington, D.C.
Prior to becoming Director of PHPR in August 2010, Dr. Khan served as Deputy Director of CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases (NCEZID). He has responded to and led numerous domestic and international public health emergencies, including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, monkeypox, Rift Valley fever, avian influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the Asian tsunami, and the initial public health response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans. [7]
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In 2016 Khan published The Next Pandemic: On the Front Lines Against Humankind’s Gravest Dangers (with William Patrick). In it he recounts some of his experiences responding to outbreaks all over the world, including many of those mentioned above. Besides his personal experiences, he also provides a great deal of background information for readers interested in public health and emerging diseases. [8]
Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi, or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same way in biological warfare. Further, modern agribusiness is vulnerable to anti-agricultural attacks by terrorists, and such attacks can seriously damage economy as well as consumer confidence. The later destructive activity is called agrobioterrorism and is subtype of agro-terrorism.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the leading national public health institute of the United States. It is also a United States federal agency under the Department of Health and Human Services and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Julie Louise Gerberding is an American infectious disease expert and the former director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR).
Stewart Simonson was the first Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He assumed office on April 28, 2004. He told the president in a resignation letter dated May 13, 2006 that he had accomplished what he had set out to do, and it was time to pursue other opportunities. Simonson joined HHS in August 2001 and was instrumental in building the HHS preparedness and response organization that grew out of the September 11th attacks.
Trust for America's Health (TFAH) is a Washington, D.C.-based health policy organization. The organization's website calls the group "a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to saving lives by protecting the health of every community and working to make disease prevention a national priority."
Michael T. Osterholm is an American public-health scientist and a biosecurity and infectious-disease expert. Osterholm is the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota and a Regents Professor, the McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, a Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the University of Minnesota Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. He is also on the Board of Regents at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
The ICEID or International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases is a conference for public health professionals on the subject of emerging infectious diseases.
The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security is an independent, nonprofit organization of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and part of the Environmental Health and Engineering department. It is concerned with the areas of health consequences from epidemics and disasters as well as averting biological weapons development, and implications of biosecurity for the bioeconomy. It is a think tank that does policy research and gives policy recommendations to the United States government as well as the World Health Organization and the UN Biological Weapons Convention.
The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services office responsible for procurement and development of countermeasures principally against bioterrorism, but also including chemical, nuclear and radiological threats as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases. BARDA reports to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response and manages Project BioShield. BARDA also procures materials, such as vaccines, for the Strategic National Stockpile, and more broadly is an established interface between the U.S. Government and the biomedical industry. BARDA also manages the governmental inter-agency Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures Enterprise, providing coordination across the government in development and deployment of such countermeasures.
The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services was created under the Pandemic and All Hazards Preparedness Act in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to lead the nation in preventing, preparing for, and responding to the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters. ASPR focuses on preparedness planning and response; building federal emergency medical operational capabilities; countermeasures research, advance development, and procurement; and grants to strengthen the capabilities of hospitals and health care systems in public health emergencies and medical disasters. The office provides federal support, including medical professionals through ASPR’s National Disaster Medical System, to augment state and local capabilities during an emergency or disaster.
On December 19, 2006, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), Public Law No. 109-417, was signed into law by President George W. Bush. PAHPA has broad implications for the United States Department of Health and Human Services's (HHS) preparedness and response activities. Among other things, the act amended the Public Health Service Act to establish within the department a new Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR); provided new authorities for a number of programs, including the advanced development and acquisitions of medical countermeasures; and called for the establishment of a quadrennial National Health Security Strategy.
The Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) is a center within the University of Minnesota that focuses on addressing public health preparedness and emerging infectious disease response. It was founded in 2001 by Michael Osterholm, in order to "prevent illness and death from infectious diseases through epidemiological research and rapid translation of scientific information into real-world practical applications and solutions".
Rear Admiral (ret) James M. Galloway, MD, FACP, FACC is a United States medical doctor and Public Health physician who provides leadership and expertise to health care systems, nonprofit service organizations and innovative social enterprises in the health and public health arenas. Dr. Galloway served as the Regional Health Administrator for the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the six eastern states that comprise Region V under Presidents Bush and Obama. He also served as the Senior Federal Official for Health for Pandemic Influenza and Bioterrorism for the Department of Homeland Security's Region C, which includes an additional six states. Subsequently, Dr. Galloway was the lead for one of CDC's lead efforts as the Director of the Office of Health System Collaboration, integrating clinical care and public health at a national level. Dr. Galloway is also an author, having published over 170 articles, abstracts, book chapters and one book, Primary Care of Native American Patients: Diagnosis, Therapy and Epidemiology. He has received numerous awards, including being named to Best Doctors in America, and receiving the Surgeon General's Exemplary Service Medal, USPHS Clinical Physician of the Year, Outstanding Clinician for the Indian Health Service nationally in 1997 and has been twice awarded the Secretary of Health and Human Services' Award for Distinguished Service as well as recognitions from the Governor of Arizona and the Mayor of Chicago.
Brett P. Giroir is an American pediatrician and a four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, who currently serves as the Assistant Secretary for Health under the Trump administration. He concurrently serves as the Secretary's principal public health and science adviser, senior adviser for HRSA, CDC, and SAMHSA and chief opioid policy adviser. As of March 2020, he concurrently serves as the director of the U.S. coronavirus diagnostic testing. He also served as the Acting Commissioner of Food and Drugs in November and December 2019, while Stephen Hahn's nomination was pending in the Senate.
Stephen S. Morse is an American epidemiologist, influenza researcher and specialist on emerging infectious diseases, who has served as an adviser on the epidemiology of infectious diseases and on improving disease early warning systems to numerous government and international organizations. As of 2016, he is Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University. His seminal book Emerging Viruses (1993) was selected by American Scientist for its list of "100 Top Science Books of the 20th Century".
Stephen C. Redd is a U.S. physician and rear admiral with the U.S. Public Health Service and an Assistant Surgeon General. With over 30 years of public health and executive leadership experience, he currently serves as Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Previously, he was the Director of the CDC's Influenza Coordination Unit, where he served as the incident commander for the 2009-2010 H1N1 pandemic influenza response.
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Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs is a non-fiction book by epidemiologist Michael Osterholm and writer Mark Olshaker, that explores public health emergencies including antimicrobial resistance, emerging infectious disease and the threat of an influenza pandemic. In response, they suggest a solution. It was published by Little, Brown and Company in 2017.
The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPAI) is legislation introduced and passed by the U.S. Congress in 2019 that aims to improve the nation's preparation and response to public health threats, including both natural threats and deliberate man-made threats.
Daniel R. Lucey is an American physician, researcher, senior scholar and adjunct professor of infectious diseases at Georgetown University, and a research associate in anthropology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where he has co-organised an exhibition on eight viral outbreaks.