Eric Hargan, deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, joined Gov. Pete Ricketts for a tour of the Dr. Edwin G. & Dorothy Balbach Davis Global Center on Saturday to learn more about UNMC/Nebraska Medicine’s pandemic and health security efforts. UNMC and Nebraska Medicine are recognized as national leaders in pandemic planning and response.
Hargan and Ricketts were joined by several campus leaders, including UNMC Chancellor Jeffrey P. Gold, MD, and Nebraska Medicine CEO Jim Linder, MD.
“What is going on here on the ground in Omaha and seeing the tremendous strides that have been made here at the University of Nebraska and more generally in this community to help us fight this terrible scourge of coronavirus, Nebraskans are really playing a key role in one of the most important parts of the fight against COVID-19,” Hargan said. “The biodefense capabilities that you’ve built here at the University of Nebraska have proven to be incredibly valuable to us in our fight against this novel and unprecedented virus.”
While at UNMC, Hargan toured the HHS Training, Simulation and Quarantine Center, the only federally designated quarantine unit in the U.S. The 20-bed unit was used earlier this year to house and monitor some of the first Americans to be treated in the U.S. for the novel coronavirus.
He also toured the UNMC Global Center for Health Security and learned about the National Emerging Special Pathogen Training and Education Center. UNMC and Nebraska Medicine also were one of a few locations that treated Americans during the Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2014.
Hargan also was briefed about the UNMC iEXCEL (Interdisciplinary Experiential Center for Enduring Learning) program, the National Disaster Medical System training and the Regional Disaster Pilot program.