The Role of The United States Public Health Service

in Protecting the Nation’s Safety and Health

The University of Texas School of Public Health

Fall 2007 Workplace Safety Seminar

Course Coordinators: Robert Emery, DrPH and Arch Carson, MD, PhD

Seminar Overview

• The objective of the seminar was to familiarize students with the US PHS and its unique role and protecting health and safety on both a national and international level

• The seminar hosted guest speakers, including current and former PHS officers and inactive reserve corps members, from a cross section of public health professions

Dr. James Steele, Professor Emeritus, UT SPH

RADM, US PHS (ret)

“Origins of the US Public Health Service and Case Studies in the Corp’s Involvement in Protecting the Nation’s Safety and Health”

Dr. Ed Wozniak, Assistant Director of Animal CareTexas A&M University Institute for Biosciences and Technology

CMDR, US PHS (IR)

“Veterinarian Hurricane Recovery Missions for Katrina and Rita”

CAPT Craig Shepherd, Chief Environmental Health Officer

Live from Aboard the USNS COMFORT via ITV

“Overview of the US PHS Involvement in Current Humanitarian Mission to South America”

Dr. Kristy Murray, Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology & Disease Control, UT SPH

CAPT US PHS (IR) EIS

“Chronicles of an EIS Officer: West Nile Virus Outbreak in New York City and Other Adventures”

Dr. Palmer Beasley, Ashbel Smith Professor, Division of Epidemiology & Disease Control

Former Dean, UT SPH

LCDR US PHS (EIS) 1963 - 1965

“Investigation of a Mysterious Diarrhea Outbreak in California”

Videotaped Interviews from Officers with the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium,

Anchorage, AK

LCDR Rebecca Polise, Engineer

LCDR Troy Ritter, Environmental Health

LT Lee Hubbart, Engineer

LCDR Nancy Tone, Nurse

CAPT Jacquie PoulderHouston Bush Intercontinental Airport CDC Quarantine Station

“Quarantine Issues in a Mobile World”

Dr. Scott Lillibridge, Director, UT SPH Center for Biosecurity and Public Health Preparedness

CAPT US PHS (ret)

“US PHS Involvement in Disaster Preparedness and Response – Personal Experiences”

Dr. Dan Sprau, East Carolina UniversityDepartment of Occupational and Environmental Health

CAPT US PHS (IR)

“Service Opportunities in the US PHS Reserves”

Dr. Richard Chaumier, Retired Clinical Psychologist and MAJ, Texas State Guard

“The Texas Medical Rangers and Linkages with the US Public Health Service”

Faisal Aboul-Enein, Clinical Assistant Professor, Texas Woman’s University Family Nurse Practitioner /Nursing Instructor, UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

LCDR US PHS Nurse Corps (IR)

“US PHS Inactive Reserve Direct Commission Process and Intermittent Tours of Duty: Experiences with the Division of Immigration Health”

CAPT Robert Tosatto, Director, Office of the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps

Via ITV from the Office of the Surgeon General, Rockville, MD

“Linkages Between the US PHS and the Civilian Volunteer Medical Reserve Corps”

Outcomes• The presentations from participating officers served to greatly

increase student awareness of the Corps

• The exposure to the PHS has sparked a significant amount of interest amongst the student community, and sparked interest amongst the PHS community in the Houston region as well

• The UT SPH’s highly successful Student Epidemic Intelligence Society is actively considering a proposal to expand the organization into a “Student Public Health Service Society”, and using the Office of Force Readiness and Deployment (OFRD) Readiness checklist as a guide for student organization training initiatives

• Based on these successes, the course will certainly be continued in the future

Dr. Steele and some of the participants in the Fall 2007 Seminar class