UNMC awarded federal emergency preparedness contract

UNMC was awarded a contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Readiness and Response to prepare for the establishment of a network of regional Centers for Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response.

Rachel Lookadoo, JD, director of legal and public health preparedness for the center, and Lauren Sauer, associate director of research in the Global Center for Health Security, will lead the project at UNMC, which was one of eight institutions to receive contracts for the project.

Contracts, awarded by the CDC’s Office of Applied Research, will support the creation of seven regional public health emergency preparedness and response workplans and provide national coordination, technical assistance and training in support of the regional workplan efforts.

Regional workplan contracts were awarded to seven of 10 Department of Health and Human Services regions. 

Lookadoo and Sauer will oversee HHS Region 7, which includes Nebraska, Missouri, Iowa and Kansas.

“This award provides an opportunity to build upon the already strong relationships that UNMC has within the region with the many partners engaged in public health emergency preparedness and response efforts,” Lookadoo said. “The work of this contract will contribute to the overall preparedness of the region to respond effectively to public health emergencies and will help further safeguard the health and wellbeing of the many diverse communities within Region 7.”