The Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center at the UNMC campus in midtown Omaha (Courtesy of the University of Nebraska Medical Center)
OMAHA — The University of Nebraska Medical Center is one of 10 regional centers across the United States selected to start a program to help communities prepare for and respond to public health threats.
The recognition and five-year funding commitment from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention follow an earlier grant in which UNMC led development of a new national planning approach to large-scale health crises.
The first annual installment of the grant is about $640,000, said Rachel Lookadoo, principal investigator who also is an assistant professor of environmental, agricultural and occupational health.
She said that UNMC did not know early on it would be tapped for the follow-up implementation efforts, and it is thrilled to see its application among those selected as a Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response.