Conference Agenda
Conference Agenda
Public Health & Disasters Conference 2025
Agenda
| 7:30am - 4:00pm | REGISTRATION |
| 7:30am - 9:00am | BREAKFAST |
| 8:30am - 9:00am | Welcome Kimberley Shoaf, DrPH, Professor, Director of the Rocky Mountains and High Plains Center for Emergency Public Health, Division of Public Health, University of Utah |
| 9:00am - 10:00am | Keynote Address Finding that Mission Moment: Staying Inspired in an Ever-Changing Public Health Landscape Jack Hermann, MSEd, Senior Director, Client Services, American Red Cross |
| 10:00am - 10:30am | BREAK |
| 10:30am - 12:00pm | Plenary Session Working with Tribal Partners for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Tammy Matt BSN RN, Public Health Nurse, Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator, Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes, Tribal Health Department Cassie Meredith, Emergency Manager, The Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah Robert DesRosier, Retired Director of Emergency Management, Blackfeet Nation |
| 12:00pm - 1:30pm | LUNCH |
| 1:30pm - 3:00pm | Breakout Session – A Countering Harmful Rumors that Undermine Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (Part 1) Aishwarya Nagar, Senior Analyst at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Health And Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health |
| 1:30pm - 3:00pm | Breakout Session – B Become a Disaster Doula: How to Improve Outcomes by Letting Go of Recovery Mitch Stripling, Director, NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute, Columbia University |
| 3:00pm - 3:30pm | BREAK |
| 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Breakout Session – C Developing a strategic plan to counter public health rumors (Part 2) Aishwarya Nagar, Senior Analyst at Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Health And Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health |
| 3:30pm - 5:00pm | Breakout Session – D Communicable Disease Workforce Surge Strategy Karen Horn, MBA, MPH, Center for Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice, Institute for Global Health Sciences, University of California San Francisco Jess Celentano, MPH, Deputy Director, Center for Global Health Diplomacy, Delivery and Economics, University of California San Francisco |
| 7:30am - 4:00pm | REGISTRATION |
| 7:30am - 9:00am | BREAKFAST |
| 9:00am - 9:45am | Plenary Session Community-engaged disaster recovery after Helene: practical experiences from the North Carolina Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network John Wallace, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health, Region 4 Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response |
| 9:45am - 10:30am | Plenary Session Leading Through Disasters: Lessons from Public Health Response and Recovery Umair Shah, MD, MPH, Founder & Principal, Rickshaw Health, Former Secretary of Health, Washington State |
| 10:30am - 11:00am | BREAK |
| 11:00am - 12:00pm | Plenary Session Impact of Federal Changes on Local Public Health Preparedness and Response Linda Degutis, DrPH, MSN, Professor, Yale University Leremy Colf, PhD, Associate Professor and Donna L. Wong Professorship in Pediatric Nursing, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center |
| 12:00pm - 1:00pm | LUNCH |
| 1:00pm - 2:30pm | Breakout Session – E Collaborative by Design: A New Capability for Preparedness Powered by Networked Conversational AI Justin Snair, MPA, CEO/Founder, Preppr.ai |
| 1:00pm - 2:30pm | Breakout Session – F H2azards Tool (Jurisdictional Risk Assessments) Nicole Errett, PhD, Center for Disaster Resilient Communities, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences |
| 2:30pm - 3:00pm | BREAK |
| 3:00pm - 4:30pm | Breakout Session – G Extended ICS Activation in a Medium-Sized Health Department Julia Goar, MPH, EMT, CHES, Missoula Public Health |
| 3:00pm - 4:30pm | Breakout Session – H Crisis Leadership Resham Patel, MPH, DrPH(c), Director of Practitioner Engagement, Center for Disaster Resilient Communities, University of Washington |
| 7:30am - 4:00pm | REGISTRATION |
| 7:30am - 9:00am | BREAKFAST |
| 9:00am - 10:30am | Plenary Session 2025 Measles Outbreak Response Katherine Wells, DrPH, Health Officer, Lubbock County, TX Leisha Nolen, MD PhD, State Epidemiologist, Utah Department of Health and Human Services |
| 10:30am - 11:00am | BREAK |
| 11:00am - 12:00pm | Keynote Session Public Health Philanthropy and Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Alonzo Plough, PhD, MPH, Vice President, Research-Evaluation-Learning and Chief Science Officer, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation |
| 12:00pm - 12:30pm | Closing Remarks Kimberley Shoaf, DrPH, Professor, Director of the Rocky Mountains and High Plains Center for Emergency Public Health, Division of Public Health, University of Utah |
Speakers and Sessions
Aishwarya Nagar is a Senior Analyst at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and a Research Associate in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Currently, her work focuses on improving regional public health preparedness and response; building trust in public health and addressing misleading health rumors in the US; and countering information manipulation campaigns about chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear threats. She is the lead author of the Practical Playbook for Addressing Health Rumors, developed resources for the Tackling Rumors and Understanding & Strengthening Trust (TRUST) in Public Health project, and is part of the Region 3 Center for Public Health Preparedness and Response.
Session 1: Countering harmful rumors that undermine PHEPR
Misleading and harmful rumors can undermine public health practitioners' ability to prepare for and respond to emergencies. This interactive session explores practical methods for identifying when and how to counter rumors that undermine public health emergency preparedness and response, using the Practical Playbook for Addressing Health Rumors as our guide.
Session 2: Developing a strategic plan to counter public health rumors
In this workshop, attendees will systematically develop a strategic plan to counter misleading and harmful rumors that undermine public health emergency preparedness and response. It builds on [Session 1] and invites attendees to reflect on practical solutions that work for them during emergencies.
Objectives:
- Gain a stronger understanding of guidance on practical ways for practitioners to address public health rumors
- Apply guidance to develop customized strategies for countering public health rumors relevant to our own contexts
- Ideate ways that practitioners can counter PHEPR rumors on an organizational scale.
Alonzo Plough joined the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as chief science officer and vice president, Research-Evaluation-Learning in January 2014. He is responsible for aligning all of the Foundation’s work with the best evidence from research and practice and incorporating program evaluations into organizational learning. He also oversees the two grantmaking portfolios focused on innovation and emerging issues: Pioneer and Global Ideas for U.S. solutions.
Plough has been a national leader in public health practice for over 25 years. He came to the Foundation from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health where he served as director of emergency preparedness and response from 2009–2013. Prior to these positions, Plough served as the vice president of strategy, planning and evaluation for The California Endowment, the director and health officer for the Seattle and King County Department of Public Health, as well as the director of public health in Boston.
Session: Public Health Philanthropy and Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response
Description: Situate the challenges for emergency and disaster preparedness and response during the current political times, understand the influence of climate change on the frequency and intensity of disasters, and highlight the continued need to focus on health equity and community collaboration.
Cassie Meredith is the Emergency Manager for the Paiute Indian Tribe of Utah, specializing in crisis response, mitigation, and strategic communication for tribal communities. Certified as an EMT/AEMT, Certified Healthcare Emergency Coordinator II, and a graduate of the FEMA Basic Academy, Cassie brings expertise in emergency preparedness, operational coordination, and message design. She is particularly skilled at developing clear, actionable communication strategies that enhance situational awareness and support effective decision-making during complex incidents.
Cassie is passionate about community-centered emergency management and fostering collaboration across agencies to strengthen resilience and preparedness in tribal communities. In addition to her professional work, she has been an active member of Friends of the Children’s Justice Center for over 11 years, supporting programs that empower and protect the most vulnerable populations.
Robert DesRosier began his career with the Blackfeet Tribe as Director of Utilities. He worked to improve the water supply system to provide increased safe drinking water for the community.
After the 911 terrorist Attacks; Robert secured a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and proceeded to helped develop a nationally recognized Homeland Security Program for the Blackfeet Nation. He was a commissioned Law Enforcement officer for the Blackfeet Tribe.
Robert was Director of the Disaster and of Emergency Services program for the Blackfeet Tribe. In this position he dealt with all matters of Life Safety and Disasters. Robert has served as Incident Commander for Disaster and Emergency declarations on the Blackfeet Reservation and Glacier County. Robert was the Incident Commander during the COVID pandemic He personally secured a mobile Command center donated by a concerned Blackfeet Member and provided over 2,500 + COVID Vaccinations to people of the Blackfeet nation and to the Canadian Border Tribes and communities. . He is essential in the implementation of Emergency Preparedness strategies for the Blackfeet Reservation.
Robert has served on the Regional Advisory Committee for FEMA Region 8, the Board of Directors for the National Tribal Emergency Management Council, Chairman of the Montana Indian Nations Emergency Working Group, Chairman of the Board for the Browning Public Schools, Tribal representative for FIRST NET organization, served on the State of Montana Emergency Communications Board, was appointed to the Federal Preparedness Task Force under President Obama. Robert is an instructor for the Armed Intruder Course, Incident Command System, and is a certified instructor for the CERT program.
Robert most recently served and retired from the Blackfeet Tribal Council as Acting Vice Chairman. Robert was responsible for organizing a working task force to develop Enhanced Tribal ID’s for the Blackfeet Nation. He is currently on the advisory board for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People program for the Blackfeet nation.
Tammy Matt is an enrolled Tribal member of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes (CSKT). She has worked as a Public Health Nurse for the CSKT Tribal Health Department for 28 years and has been the CSKT Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator for 12 years. She has lived on the Flathead Reservation, home of the Confederated Salish & Kootenai Tribes all her life and has dedicated her career to helping her Tribal community. She received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT. She knew from the age of 10 that she wanted to be a nurse and fell in love with public health after spending time working with her mentor at Tribal Health during high school. She takes great pride in caring for her tribal communities and strives to ensure they are prepared to handle any public health crisis that arises.
Jack Herrmann, MSEd, serves as the Senior Director, Client Care Program for the American Red Cross-National Headquarters. His responsibilities include developing and executing the policies, standards, and guidance for disaster Client programs and services in the immediate aftermath of disasters.
Prior to his work with the American Red Cross, Jack’s career spanned the areas of public health and healthcare policy, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear preparedness and response, and disaster mental health. He has served in senior leadership roles within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR); the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (formerly the Institute of Medicine); the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO); and the University of Rochester Schools of Medicine and Nursing. In December 2024, Jack was appointed as the chair of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Center for Readiness and Response, Board of Scientific Counselors.
In 1993, Jack became a volunteer with the American Red Cross and served in volunteer staff or leadership roles in response to local, state, and national disaster relief operations including the Northridge, CA Earthquake, TWA Flight 800 Aviation Incident, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 on New York City, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Sandy, and the 2016 Pulse Nightclub attack in Orlando, Florida.
Mr. Herrmann’s academic background includes a master’s degree in education in counseling, family, and work life studies from the University of Rochester. He was formerly certified by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC) and was a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the State of New York.
Session: Finding that Mission Moment: Staying Inspired in an Ever-Changing Public Health Landscape
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how current events can influence career aspirations
- Identify and balance the impact of "political noise"
- Understand how to stay personally inspired by finding "Mission Moments"
Justin Snair is the CEO and Founder of Preppr.ai, pioneering the integration of artificial intelligence into disaster preparedness and response. With over 20 years of experience spanning emergency management, public health, and technology development, he leads AI-driven solutions that enhance resilience in homeland security while emphasizing responsible and ethical AI implementation.
Previously, Justin served as Senior Principal Consultant at SGNL Solutions and Senior Program Officer at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, where he led critical initiatives on U.S. health security and disaster response. His earlier leadership roles at the National Association of County and City Health Officials and Acton Public Health Department focused on environmental health security and emergency preparedness.
A U.S. Marine Corps Combat Veteran, Justin serves on the Public Health Extreme Events Research Network Steering Committee and contributes as an advisor in disaster medicine. He holds an MPA in Information Assurance and Critical Infrastructure from Northeastern University and a B.S. in Health Science from Worcester State University.
Session: Collaborative by Design: A New Capability for Preparedness Powered by Networked Conversational AI
Description: Designing realistic tabletop exercises (TTXs) is a persistent challenge, as traditional top-down methods often fail to capture the diverse stakeholder perspectives that ensure relevance and impact. This session introduces Preppr Collaborate, a novel tool that harnesses conversational AI to transform exercise design into a collaborative, bottom-up engagement. Join us for a live, hands-on demonstration where you will act as a contributor in a real-time design network, experiencing firsthand how this technology builds richer, more effective scenarios through collective intelligence. We will also explore how this core technology can be applied to disaster planning, after-action reporting, and training. The tool, funded by the Preparedness & Recovery Institute, is currently undergoing independent evaluation by CUNY through a pilot with health departments. Participants are strongly encouraged to bring a laptop to participate fully in the interactive demonstration.
Objectives:
- Define a "conversational AI powered network" and its role in scaling collective engagement for public health preparedness.
- Explain how this collaborative approach can enhance the realism, relevance, and stakeholder buy-in of preparedness exercises.
- Contribute to a collective exercise design scenario using Preppr Collaborate.
- Discuss how the principles of AI-powered collective engagement can be applied to other functions, including planning, after-action reporting, and workforce training.
Julia Goar is the Public Health Emergency Preparedness Coordinator at the Missoula City-County Health Department. She holds licensure as an Emergency Medical Technician and serves on the Western Montana All-Hazards Incident Management Team. Julia has a master’s in public health and a decade of experience within intercultural and international contexts, leading to a passion for empowerment through education. Julia has a wide base of knowledge through leading research and education efforts, providing direct patient care, and implementing the Incident Command Structure. She is consistently committed to projects focusing on emergency preparedness, access to health care, and cultural humility.
Session: TBD
Objectives:
- Assess how Missoula Public Health incorporated the Incident Command Structure (ICS) into the COVID-19 response.
- Identify strengths and weaknesses in MPH’s approach.
- Explore key findings of Missoula Public Health’s COVID-19 After Action Report/Improvement Plan.
- Apply MPH’s Incident Management Team training principles to other local public health departments.
Karen Horn brings more than 25 years of experience in public health, with expertise spanning emergency preparedness, infectious disease response, and global health program management. She currently serves as Deputy Director of the Global Strategic Information and Public Health Practice Center and as Technical Director of the Pacific Southwest Center for Emergency Public Health, both housed within UCSF’s Institute for Global Health Sciences.
From 2020 to 2023, Ms. Horn led the design and implementation of California’s COVID-19 Virtual Training Academy (VTA+), a $33 million statewide initiative developed in partnership with UCLA and the California Department of Public Health. As Technical Director, she oversaw rapid training and support for thousands of public health responders, strengthening California’s workforce capacity during the pandemic.
Earlier in her career, Horn spent two decades developing, managing, and evaluating complex global HIV programs.
Session: Communicable Disease Workforce Surge Strategy
Objectives:
- Showcase the Pacific Southwest Center for Emergency Public Health’s pilot project to strengthen PHEP workforce surge capacity
- Discuss how a modified tabletop exercise was used to enhance readiness
- Evaluate the project’s effectiveness.
Dr. Leremy Colf is an Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center and holds the Donna L. Wong Professorship in Pediatric Nursing. He is also a Senior Advisor and Research Liaison, Health Informatics with the OU Health hospital and healthcare system; a research analyst with the San Mateo County Department of Emergency Management; and a Senior Advisor with the HHS Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. He focuses on health policy and data, the health consequences of disasters, and data-driven decision making in healthcare. Prior to joining the faculty at Oklahoma, Dr. Colf worked in health-related analysis, research, policy, and operations for more than 20 years. These roles included using science, data, and evidence to improve preparedness and response for public health and medical disasters; threat characterization and bioterrorism defense; and developing a federal data strategy at the White House.
Linda C. Degutis, DrPH, MSN is a Lecturer at the Yale School of Public Health, focusing on injury and violence. She is a former director of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control at the CDC and founding executive director of Defense Health Horizons based at the Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, MD. She was on the faculty in Emergency Medicine at Yale and was Director of the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness in the School of Public Health. She is a member of the advisory group to the Yale Fogarty project focused on training practitioners in the Middle East and North Africa on injury prevention. She serves as a consultant on research in prevention of firearm suicide in veterans with the Colorado VA Patient Safety Center of Inquiry – Suicide Prevention Collaborative. Sr. Degutis is past president of APHA and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
Session: Impact of Federal Changes on Local Public Health Preparedness and Response
Objectives:
- Understand the difference between health policy, regulations, and legislation
- Define the role that FEMA plays in disaster response
- Explore the health consequences if FEMA’s roles and responsibilities change.
Mitch Stripling is the director of the NYC Preparedness and Recovery Institute (PRI) and the author of the new book, The Epistemology of Disasters and Social Change, and its accompanying podcast, Tough Shift. He has a long history of leadership roles in emergency management, disaster response and planning, coordination, and response to public health crises. Before joining PRI, Stripling served as the national director for Emergency Preparedness and Response at Planned Parenthood (PPFA). Before PPFA, Stripling served in leadership positions at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH), first as a director of the Emergency Planning Unit and later as assistant commissioner for Agency Preparedness and Response. Prior to his roles in New York City, Stripling coordinated disaster responses for the Florida Department of Health. He has helped plan and implement the responses to more than twenty federally declared disasters and public health emergencies.
Session: Become a Disaster Doula: How to Improve Outcomes By Letting Go of Recovery
Description: There’s a better way to improve communities post-disaster. Public health has wrestled with the failures of recovery for years. In fact, social science has shown that communities often get worse in recovery, not better. But what if, instead of treating a public health emergency as a kind of break that leads to the recovery of something in the past, we treated it as the birth of something new? Come and learn a new framework where practitioners act as disaster doulas - individual, organization, or systems committed to helping a community manage their transition through crisis gracefully, honoring their grief and helping to support the birth of a new, better community through creative and continuous growth. Through interactive exercises and storytelling, we’ll teach you what a disaster doula is and show you how to use these skills within your own emergency structures.
Resham Patel is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington, with 15 years of local and national experience as a public health professional. She serves as the Director of Practitioner Engagement for the UW Center for Disaster Resilient Communities (CDRC) and leads several efforts to advance disaster research, climate resilience, and workforce development. Resham previously led preparedness training and evaluation efforts at Public Health – Seattle & King County, including an assessment of the agency’s COVID-19 response. She has served on several national workgroups including through the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), where she worked as a Senior Analyst. Resham is a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and has a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University.
Session: TBD
Umair A. Shah, MD, MPH is a physician and health executive with over two decades of leadership in public health, health care, and emergency response. He most recently served as Secretary of Health for Washington State, advancing efforts in digital health, emergency resilience, and systems transformation. Previously, he led Harris County Public Health in Texas, serving the nation’s third largest county, where he guided responses to numerous emergencies including hurricanes, tropical storms, infectious diseases, and other incidents. Dr. Shah has also deployed globally for disaster response, including major earthquakes in Kashmir and Haiti. The American Public Health Association recognized him with the 2017 Roemer Prize for Creative Local Public Health Work. Earlier this year, he founded Rickshaw Health, a consulting venture advising governments, health systems, and organizations on transformational strategy and innovation.
Session: Leading Through Disasters: Lessons from Public Health Response and Recovery
Objectives:
- Describe key lessons from local, state, and global responses to public health disasters.
- Identify the “3 Cs” of preparedness — communication, collaboration, and capacity building.
- Apply practical insights from disaster leadership to strengthen resilience in their own settings.
