Research related to the logistics of disease and disaster preparedness and response includes a broad range of topics. While the majority of CIDDP research concerns emergency response logistics for events arising within the United States, we have also addressed logistics issues related to pandemics and diseases found elsewhere, including the scale-up of antiretroviral therapy for people with AIDS in limited-resource settings. CIDDP faculty members also enjoy a significant amount of experience underwriting public health system informatics research.
Over the past two decades, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers have made important contributions to the science of public health response logistics. Dr. Nathaniel Hupert and his team initiated this work at the turn of the millennium, in collaboration with the NYC Office of Emergency Management and Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, with the first simulation modeling of bioterrorism response plans for New York City. This work led to the Point of Dispensing (POD) concept, which subsequently became a cornerstone of U.S. bioterrorism response policy.