{"55511":{"#nid":"55511","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Responding to a Crisis: 2010 Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn a year when the world\u0027s attention has focused on\nthe vast and complex effort of humanitarian relief, more than 175 people committed\nto health and humanitarian support came together March 4 - 5, 2010, for the\nsecond annual Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics, held at the\nGeorgia Tech Conference Center in Atlanta. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Center for Health and\nHumanitarian Logistics, a unit of the Supply Chain and\nLogistics Institute (SCL) and a part of the H. Milton Stewart School of\nIndustrial and Systems Engineering (ISyE) at Georgia Tech, organized the\nconference, which had as its main objectives to articulate challenges and\nsuccesses in preparing for and responding to health and humanitarian crises,\nincluding disasters and long-term development, particularly on issues related\nto logistics. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAn impressive gathering of participants from Canada,\nCroatia, Germany, India, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, South Africa,\nSwitzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and United States came together with an\nambitious mission: to encourage learning and collaboration within and across\ninstitutions; promote system-wide improvements in organizations and the sector\nas a whole; identify important research issues; and establish priorities for nongovernmental\norganizations (NGOs), corporations, and the government in terms of strategies,\npolicies and investments. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ERepresentatives\nfrom\nthe humanitarian sector, government and military, NGOs, foundations and private\nindustry, and academia presented diverse perspectives in health and\nhumanitarian challenges through keynote addresses, panel discussions, focused workshops,\nlunchtime group discussions, and interactive poster sessions (with over 45\nposters covering a broad set of research topics and applications).\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EDrawing on the success of last\nyear\u2019s inaugural conference and from participants\u2019 feedback, ISyE\nprofessors Ozlem Ergun, Pinar Keskinocak, and Julie Swann, conference co-chairs\nand co-directors of the Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics, expanded this year\u2019s conference from\none day to one and a half days, adding a second keynote presentation and a third\nworkshop. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EKeskinocak,\nwho is also the associate director for research of the Health Systems\nInstitute, describes\nthe conference as having been very \u0022intense,\u0022 with attendees being\nengaged in various ways during the entire time. \u201cThe panels provided a great\noverview of various topics,\u201d Keskinocak explains, \u201cand the post-conference\nworkshops allowed the attendees to go deeper in some of the topics, interact\nmore closely, and exchange ideas with each other and the workshop presenters.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPanel discussions covered long-term development and\nsustainability; education, community preparedness, and capacity building; improving\npublic health; and disaster preparedness, response, and post-disaster\noperations. Recognizing that global\nhealth is an area of great interest, the conference organizers\nadded the public health panel this year and will continue to expand the Center\nactivities in this area moving forward. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThose attending this year\u2019s conference were almost\nunanimous in their enthusiasm for the event and particularly liked the panels,\nciting the diversity of representatives and organizations and the different\nperspectives on a variety of topics.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe agencies, organizations, and businesses\nrepresented on the panels include governmental organizations (the Department of\nHomeland Security, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USAID Food for\nPeace), nongovernmental organizations (CARE-USA, Doctors Without\nBorders\/Medecins Sans Frontieres, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, the Salvation\nArmy, the World Food Programme), industry (Emergency Visions, Sterling\nSolutions, United Parcel Service, Walmart), academia (Disaster Resilience\nAcademy of Tulane University, New England Center for Emergency Preparedness),\nand others (Clinton Foundation, U. S, Army Corps of Engineers). \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ESome of the perspectives covered within the panels\ninclude why collaboration matters, how to foster disaster-resilient\ncommunities, emergency management in the private sector, how disaster response\ncan be a disaster within a disaster, warehousing for faster response, improving\nsupply chains to meet people in need, and improving global health. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EPublic health and disaster management were two\nthemes picked up in the keynote addresses. The first of the keynote speakers\nwas Rear Admiral Scott Deitchman, associate director for Terrorism Preparedness\nand Emergency Response with the National Center for Environmental Health and\nthe Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Rear Admiral Deitchman\nspoke about both the CDC\u2019s role in global health, highlighting the newly\nestablished Center for Global health, and shared insights from his own\nexperience in Haiti. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EArmond Mascelli, vice president for Disaster\nServices, Operations, with the American Red Cross, presented the conference\u2019s\nsecond keynote. Mascelli spoke about the spectrum of disasters, which range\nfrom emergencies to catastrophic events, and how to better position supply\nchain technology with NGOs engaged is disaster relief. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe continuous thread throughout the conference was\nthe ongoing poster presentations, which gave individuals and groups a venue for\nsharing and discussing their research, projects, and activities in health and\nhumanitarian applications. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EFollowing the official conclusion of the conference,\nattendees were given the option of participating in one of three focused\nworkshops that took place the afternoon of the second day. These workshops covered\nin greater detail pre-planning and response to large-scale domestic events,\ndynamic decision-making during emergencies, and preparedness and response in\nhumanitarian logistics. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\n\n\n\u003Cp\u003EAlready looking forward to next year\u2019s conference,\nthe three co-chairs are encouraged by the momentum the conference has gained\namong participating organizations and countries. Those participating this year\nhave stated that not only would they return next year, but they would also\nrecommend the conference to others. This can only be good news for Ergun, Keskinocak,\nand Swann, who are striving, through the Center for Health and Humanitarian\nLogistics, to improve communications between NGOs, governments and private\nindustry and present them with the research and practical applications to\nimprove the efficiency and effectiveness of their operations. The Center\u2019s goal\nis to improve health and humanitarian logistics and ultimately the human\ncondition by system transformation and organization effectiveness through\neducation, outreach, and solutions. The Conference on Health and Humanitarian\nLogistics is moving the organizers further in realizing that goal. \u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003EThe Center for Health and Humanitarian Logistics received support through the following conference sponsors: UPS Foundation, Kuehne+Nagel, \u0026nbsp;Coca Cola Company, Focus Humanitarian Assistance, and several units from Georgia Tech including the Distance Learning and Professional Education Program, H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Supply Chain and Logistics Institute, Health Systems Institute, College of Engineering, and College of Computing.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETo learn more about the Conference presentations and\nworkshops and to view videos of the panels, speakers and workshops, visit: \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/humlog2010\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003Ehttp:\/\/www.scl.gatech.edu\/humlog2010\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E.\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\n\u003Cp\u003ETo learn more about ISyE\u0027s work in health and humanitarian\nlogistics, visit:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/humanitarian.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Ehttp:\/\/humanitarian.gatech.edu.\u003C\/a\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn a year when the world\u0027s attention has focused on\nthe vast and complex effort of humanitarian relief, more than 175 people\n committed\nto health and humanitarian support came together March 4\u0026nbsp; - 5, 2010, for \nthe\nsecond annual Conference on Health and Humanitarian Logistics, held at \nthe\nGeorgia Tech Conference Center in Atlanta.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Responding to a crisis focus of 2010 Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference"}],"uid":"27328","created_gmt":"2010-04-29 13:42:03","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:05:53","author":"Edie Cohen","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2010-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2010-04-29T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"55510":{"id":"55510","type":"image","title":"Four panel discussions covered sustainability, community preparedness, public health, and disaster response.","body":null,"created":"1449175533","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:45:33","changed":"1475894491","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:31","alt":"Four panel discussions covered sustainability, community preparedness, public health, and disaster response.","file":{"fid":"190306","name":"HumLog_panel.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HumLog_panel_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HumLog_panel_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":4637554,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/HumLog_panel_0.jpeg?itok=mB8OZ2uo"}},"55509":{"id":"55509","type":"image","title":"The 45 poster presentations gave individuals and groups a venue for sharing and discussing their research, projects, and activities in health and humanitarian applications.","body":null,"created":"1449175533","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 20:45:33","changed":"1475894491","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:41:31","alt":"The 45 poster presentations gave individuals and groups a venue for sharing and discussing their research, projects, and activities in health and humanitarian applications.","file":{"fid":"190305","name":"HumLog_poster.jpeg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HumLog_poster_0.jpeg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/HumLog_poster_0.jpeg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3804255,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/HumLog_poster_0.jpeg?itok=sRMhGcrV"}}},"media_ids":["55510","55509"],"groups":[{"id":"1242","name":"School of Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISYE)"}],"categories":[{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"9222","name":"Health and Humanitarian Logistics"},{"id":"426","name":"isye"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:barbara.christopher@isye.gatech.edu\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBarbara\n \nChristopher\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EIndustrial and Systems Engineering\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404.385.3102\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}