CDC Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center

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Investigator: Travis Porco, PhD, MPH
Sponsor: University of California Berkeley

Location(s): United States

Description

CDC Preparedness and Emergency Response Research Center (PERRC) conducts public health research that improves the capability of public health departments and communities to prevent, detect, investigate, and respond to public health threats from all hazards. In achieving our mission, we will serve effectively our most vulnerable populations. With the theme to Create and Maintain Sustainable Preparedness and Response Systems, we will focus on the following public health systems research areas:

(1) all-hazards communication to improve the resilience of vulnerable populations;

(2) early warning, investigation, and surveillance: epidemiology networks in action;

(3) closing the chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear gaps in public health all-hazards preparedness;

(4) optimizing public health emergency management systems; and

(5) California Exercise Laboratory: systems research using statewide operations-based exercises.  As a center in an academic institution, our tradition of partnering with local and state health departments will enable us to tackle the challenges of studying public health systems in order to strengthen all-hazards public health emergency response nationally.

Dr. Travis Porco is a mathematical epidemiologist with the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Epidemiology and Effectiveness Research Unit. His research interests have included the infectivity of HIV in the era of HAART, evolution of virulence, HIV superinfection, transmission dynamics of tuberculosis, drug resistance in HSV-2, eradication of trachoma, and the enzootiology of Lyme disease. Dr. Porco's education and training include the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida (BS Physics), UC Berkeley (PhD Biophysics, MPH Biostatistics), and UC San Francisco (postdoctoral fellowship). He maintains a mathematical epidemiology web site at http://www.mathepi.com.