"The National Institutes of Health's (NIH) commitment to disaster resilience has been the foundation for more than three decades of research. Multiple NIH Institutes, Centers and grantees conduct research focusing on disaster preparedness, response and recovery issues. These efforts have contributed to a deeper understanding of disaster risks and recovery and act to provide critical information when disasters strike.
In response to recent disasters and the research conducted in their wake, NIH has committed to fund the NIH Disaster Research Response Program. This pilot program, developed by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) in collaboration with the National Library of Medicine (NLM), aims to create a disaster research system consisting of coordinated environmental health disaster research data collection tools and a network of trained research responders. Elements of the system include epidemiologic questionnaires and clinical protocols, specially trained disaster researchers, environmental health disaster research networks, a reach-back roster of subject matter experts, and a support infrastructure that can be activated and deployed during public health emergencies and declared disasters. NIEHS is building on its extensive program capabilities, research networks, and field experience in leading this pilot."