Health Sciences
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July 24—Stewart Simonson, Constella's Vice President
for Global Public Health Preparedness, co-authored an article that appeared
in the July issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases, a peer-reviewed
journal published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC)
National Center for Infectious Diseases. More...
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Since 9/11, there has been much attention on initiatives to protect the general
public, first responders, and other public servants from terrorist acts; but
the field of public health preparedness is much broader and includes managing
rising health threats such as Pandemic Avian Influenza.
Constella's appointment of Stewart
Simonson as vice president for global public
health preparedness has placed us squarely at the forefront of this area. In
this role, Simonson leads Constella's preparedness programs and launches initiatives
to broaden the company's extensive preparedness expertise and its support of
both public and private sector constituents. He is also actively involved in
public health preparedness outreach through speaking engagements, white papers,
and various other media. Simonson spent nearly five years with the U.S. Department
of Health and Human Services (HHS) where he served in a variety of senior advisory
roles, most recently as assistant secretary for public health emergency preparedness.
For more information about Simonson, please
read his bio.
Our current work includes conducting assessments to gauge the preparedness
of the nation's public health infrastructure, support biosurveillance, and
providing rapid staffing response to growing needs to minimize infectious disease
outbreaks such as SARS. We also develop communication tools to inform the public
regarding potential bioterrorist threats, such as smallpox.
Selected Projects
Public Health Preparedness White Papers
To request a copy of any of these papers, click on the name of the paper you
would like. This will open a new email with the name of the paper you are requesting
as the subject line.
BioSense
The Web-based BioSense is CDC's early health-event detection and situational
awareness surveillance system for monitoring any potential disease outbreaks
in the United States. BioSense provides simultaneous access to health data
by all levels of public health and supports cross-jurisdictional biosurveillance
during a public health event. Data transmitted to CDC from hospitals and other
health data resources are analyzed, visualized, and displayed through the BioSense
application.
Constella builds and manages the relationships with state/local public health
and the health data sources (hospitals) on behalf of CDC, including:
- Identification, evaluation, and recommendation of data sources for BioSense
- Management and oversight of the data source from initial conversation through
implementation of the data feed
- Assistance in the creation of communication materials, legal agreements,
and technical documentation
- Coordination and facilitation of all stakeholders including CDC, other
contractors, local public health, and the healthcare organizations.
For more information on BioSense, visit its dedicated Web site with the CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/biosense/
Laboratory Assessments
Constella conducts leading national assessments of clinical and research laboratories
for both scientific and regulatory purposes. Constella's studies of laboratories
range from small, focused studies to assessments done on a national scale,
including studies of laboratory test accuracy, surveys of laboratory procedures,
evaluations of new laboratory assays, and studies of laboratory capacity for
infectious disease surveillance and response.
Constella registers, inspects, and certifies laboratory facilities that possess
biological agents and toxins that have the potential to pose a severe threat
to public health and safety. Working with the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention and other key federal agencies, Constella approves and tracks shipments
of agents between U.S. laboratories, and issues permits to laboratories to
import these agents and other infectious agents that affect human health.
Case study: In the wake of the deadly anthrax mail attacks
during the summer of 2002, the CDC requested that Constella design and disseminate
a survey to nearly a quarter of a million facilities including laboratories
that might house potentially dangerous biological agents and pathogens. Constella
processed and analyzed more than 140,000 responses in 90 days, and created
and populated a database in time for Health and Human Services to produce required
regulations by December 10, 2002.
Preparing to Prepare: Emergency Preparedness Meeting with Key State Officials
To stay at the forefront of public health preparedness, leverage capabilities
in this critical domain, and build key relations in this area, Constella convened
a working group of state emergency preparedness directors during the fall of
2006
Constella scheduled the event to coincide with the national meeting of the
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) in Atlanta, Georgia.
Constella invited select state public health preparedness directors to this
breakfast event to discuss pandemic flu planning. The goal was to include representatives
who have worked in various states, have deep preparedness experience and demonstrated
effectiveness, and who work in close proximity to international borders.
Constella developed a preparedness white paper titled "Assisting
States to Plan for Pandemic Influenza."
During the meeting, Constella leaders spoke to many points in the paper and
invited participants' comments. At the close of the session, the group agreed
to contribute suggestions to the white paper. After incorporating the group's
feedback, Constella plans to share the final paper with the Chair of the
Directors of Public Health Preparedness and the ASTHO Preparedness staff.
