IGF::OT::IGF: STRENGTHENING THE DISASTER PREPAREDNESS OF ACADEMIC BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH COMMUNITIES

National Academy Of Sciences, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine?s Institute of Medicine (IOM), in collaboration with the Division on Earth and Life Sciences, will establish an ad hoc committee that will conduct a study and issue a report that will explore the effects of disasters on the biomedical academic research community. The IOM will provide a report that 1) describes the extent of the impact of prior disasters on the biomedical academic research community and 2) provides guidance, tools, and other resources for individual researchers, research institutions, and sponsors regarding potential actions to be taken that may mitigate the impact of future disasters on research facilities, equipment, reagents, and animals. The report will take an all-hazards approach, including but not limited to snow and ice events (e.g., avalanches, leaks, infrastructure collapse due to weight of snow); fires; pandemics (e.g., which could impact a region and limit deliveries, like food for animals); information technology breaches such as cyber-attacks (including discussion of how one would protect data and retrieve it after loss); and electricity blackouts.