Saejung is UNMC director of emergency management

Elayne Saejung has spent her entire work career trying to keep people safe.

The new director of emergency management for UNMC started her career as an arms control policy analyst, working at the Pentagon and the Department of State in Washington, D.C.

“One of the papers I worked on was legal analysis for public health emergencies,” Saejung said. “And as I was looking at the policy structure for how we respond in the United States, I was intrigued by the operational aspect.”

The real-life ramifications took on a keener edge for Saejung shortly following the 2001 anthrax attacks. She returned to school, attending Georgetown to get a master’s degree in biohazardous threat agents/emerging infectious diseases.

“I went to work for a local public health department as a public health emergency preparedness coordinator, which is about as operational as it gets with regard to public health emergency response,” she said.

Within a matter of three months, Saejung’s expertise was needed when a train derailment prompted a railcar fire with butadiene gas and threatened release of toxic hydrogen fluoride gas, forcing evacuations of local residents.

“I was able to see immediately how health departments work with local emergency management, fire departments, the police, and the community on emergency response to these incidents.”

Saejung, who came to UNMC in 2015, is proud of the institution’s national reputation.

“I was interested in Nebraska because of the national experts in public health preparedness and highly infectious diseases on campus,” she said. “So when the position at the Center for Preparedness Education opened up, I accepted the position to be the assistant director with an incredible staff under the direction of Dr. (Sharon) Medcalf. That’s where I began helping our campus emergency management.”

Saejung sees a lot of opportunity at UNMC.

“There’s so much going on at UNMC and Nebraska Medicine as far as opportunities with federal grants and training. Trying to ensure that our campus emergency management program grows as quickly as the demand for our expertise is a challenge,” she said. “On the other hand, we have unique capabilities and are already taking a lot of the steps necessary for preparedness.

“From a collaborative approach, one of my goals is to make sure that we are communicating with the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Nebraska Medicine, and the University of Nebraska system as a whole to ensure our policies and procedures in an emergency are aligned and similar, when possible. They’re not going to always line up — we’re in different locations, we have different responsibilities — but there are a lot of steps we can take to ensure we understand how an incident is being managed at our partner locations and share resources if a disaster happens.”