HON499_Fall 2024_Moon Library Instruction_Harris: Hanna

2021 William E. Colby Award Finalist  Inside the Hot Zone is an insider's account of one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth: the United States Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Fort Detrick, Maryland. Retired U.S. Army Col. Mark G. Kortepeter, a leading biodefense expert, recounts his journey from the lecture hall to the role of department chief, to the battlefield, to the Biosafety Level-4 maximum containment lab, and finally, to the corner office. During Kortepeter's seven and a half years in leadership at USAMRIID, the United States experienced some of the most serious threats in modern germ warfare, including the specter of biological weapons during the Iraq War, the anthrax letters sent after 9/11, and a little-known crisis involving a presumed botulism attack on the president of the United States. Inside the Hot Zone is a shocking, frightening eye-opener as Kortepeter describes in gripping detail how he and his USAMRIID colleagues navigated threats related to anthrax, botulism, smallpox, Lassa, and Ebola. Kortepeter crafts a rich and riveting narrative as he wrestles with life-and-death decisions managing biological weapon exposures. The stories are real, but they could just as easily serve as plotlines in popular fiction or Hollywood thrillers. He gives the reader a seat at the table as each crisis unfolds, with an unvarnished and personal perspective on the dangers, the drama, the fear, the frustrations, the irony, and the uncertainty he encountered as a physician in the role of "Biodefender.

Summary"With a new preface assessing leadership responses to the coronavirus pandemic, this classic text explores leadership problems that can develop during public health crises such as the 2001 anthrax attacks, 2003 SARS epidemic, and 1980's-90's Mad Cow disease epidemic. A threat to public health, such as a rampaging virus, is no time for a muddled chain of command and contradictory decision making. Who's In Charge? Leadership during Epidemics, Bioterror Attacks, and Other Public Health Crises, re-issued with a new preface assessing leadership during the COVID-19 outbreak, explores the crucial relationships between political leaders, public health officials, and journalists to see why leadership confusion develops. As the problematic response to COVID-19 has once again shown, the reluctance of politicians to risk alarm can run counter to the public-health need to prepare for worse cases. Many leaders will seek high visible during a public health crisis, but since politicians are not medical experts the more they speak the more they risk disseminating harmful information. How to achieve the right balance is the essence of Dr. Kahn's book. Beginning by looking at the overarching issues of leadership and public health administration, it then examines in depth five emergencies - the 2001 anthrax attacks and 1993 cryptosporidium outbreaks, the 2003 SARS outbreak, the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease crisis, and the battle against Mad Cow Disease. First-person accounts from leaders involved in actual early 21st century crises, as well as leading experts, scientists, and others Primary documents including excerpts from official reports and the medical literature Chronologies of early 21st century public health emergencies A comprehensive index organized by disease and by individuals involved in emergency response "-- Provided by publisher.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine was asked to articulate a 5-year strategic vision for international health security programs and provide findings and recommendations on how to optimize the impact of the Department of Defense (DOD) Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP) in fulfilling its biosafety and biosecurity mission. Because BTRP is just one of several U.S. government programs conducting international health security engagement, both the strategic vision and the success of the program rely on coordinating actions with the U.S. government as a whole and with its international partners. This report provides several recommendations for optimizing BTRP success in its current mission and the wider-looking strategic vision it proposes.