Newswise — Bethesda, Md. - Dr. Thomas Kirsch, former director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, has been selected as the next director of the National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health (NCDMPH) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences following a nationwide search. The announcement was made July 28, 2016, by USU President Dr. Richard Thomas.
“The National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health was established in 2008 by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 21 to develop and disseminate core curricula, education, training and research in all-hazards disaster health to enhance the security of the United States,” said Thomas. “Dr. Kirsch is exceptionally qualified to lead the Center.”
Kirsch holds a faculty appointment as a professor at the Johns Hopkins University in the Departments of Emergency Medicine (School of Medicine), International Health (Bloomberg School of Public Health) and Civil Engineering (Whiting School of Engineering).
He received his M.D. from the University of Nebraska in 1984 and an MPH degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in 1986. He is a board certified emergency physician and a global expert in disaster management and science, austere medicine and health care management. He has consulted on disaster and humanitarian related issues for organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control, Federal Emergency Management Agency, the U.S. Departments of Defense and State, the American and Canadian Red Cross, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, Pan American Health Organization, the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute and the U.S. Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance.
Kirsch has responded to many disasters from local to national and global incidents such as the earthquakes in Haiti (2010), Chile (2010) and New Zealand (2011), and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines (2013). In 2013, he received the inaugural, ‘Disaster Science Award’ from the American College of Emergency Physicians and in 2014 the Clara Barton Award for Leadership from the American Red Cross.
Kirsch will begin his new position later this fall.
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About the Uniformed Services University of the Health SciencesThe Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, founded by an act of Congress in 1972, is the nation’s federal health sciences university and the academic heart of the Military Health System. USU students are primarily active duty uniformed officers in the Army, Navy, Air Force and Public Health Service who receive specialized education in tropical and infectious diseases, TBI and PTSD, disaster response and humanitarian assistance, global health, and acute trauma care. A large percentage of the university’s more than 5,300 physician and 1,000 advanced practice nursing alumni are supporting operations around the world, offering their leadership and expertise. USU also has graduate programs in biomedical sciences and public health committed to excellence in research, and in oral biology. The University's research program covers a wide range of clinical and other topics important to both the military and public health. For more information about USU and its programs, visit www.usuhs.edu.
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