[som-minot] Med school receives grant for bioterrorism education and training

[Pamela Knudson]

                                                                         For 
immediate release:
                                                                         October 
14, 2003


U.N.D. MEDICAL SCHOOL RECEIVES $820,000 GRANT FOR BIOTERRORISM EDUCATION 
AND TRAINING PROGRAM

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – The University of North Dakota (UND) School of Medicine 
and Health Sciences has received a grant for $820,761 from U.S. Department 
of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to strengthen bioterrorism education 
and training for health professionals.

The UND medical school is among 19 institutions to receive the grants, 
announced recently by DHHS Secretary Tommy Thompson.  Totaling $22.3 
million nationally, they are the first awarded in the DHHS’ Bioterrorism 
Training and Curriculum Development Program.  There were 104 applicants for 
the grant program.

“Our health care professionals need to be prepared for the special demands 
that a bioterrorism attack could make on them and on our health care 
system,”  Thompson said.  “This new program is an important part of our 
broader efforts to prepare our public health system, develop effective 
medical countermeasures and stand ready to respond if bioterrorism should 
strike.”

The UND medical school’s two-year project titled BORDERS, “Biochemical 
Organic Radioactive Educational Response System,” will be aimed at 
improving the ability of health professionals to prepare for and respond to 
acts of bioterrorism in increasingly diverse situations and populations.

“We are very pleased and proud to assume a leadership role to ensure that 
health care professionals in North Dakota receive the training they need to 
best respond to emergencies that may arise through bioterrorism,” said Dr. 
H. David Wilson, vice president for health affairs and dean of the medical 
school at UND.

“Because of our expertise in providing health professions education in a 
rural setting, we are uniquely qualified to fill this important role, and 
further extend our services to the people of this state and region.”

Drs. Linda Olson, director of the Office of Medical Education, and Rick 
Vari, assistant dean for educational affairs, UND medical school, are 
co-principal investigators.  Dr. James Hargreaves, infectious disease 
specialist at Altru Health System in Grand Forks, is executive program 
director.

“Effective responses to public health emergencies... need to cross all 
disciplines while promoting innovation and collaboration among all health 
professionals,” Olson said.  “This project will create a ‘borderless’ and 
efficient system by which practitioners and emergency preparedness and 
disaster management personnel will have access to standardized training and 
resources that will increase understanding and promote cooperation.”

“This is an exciting opportunity to link our medical school and university 
to health care practitioners in the state, all of whom are focused on 
learning about a topic that has become so prominent in our daily lives,” 
Vari said.  “Our next challenge will be to incorporate this curriculum with 
the education of all our health science students as part of their 
educational training.

“This interdisciplinary approach to health care education is the new wave 
for producing more effective health care teams of the future.”

Doctors, nurses, physician assistants and allied health and mental health 
care professionals will participate in web-based instruction coupled with 
four, one-week, community-oriented training events throughout the year 
across North Dakota, including areas on or near rural Indian reservations, 
military bases, the U.S.-Canadian border, agricultural areas and urban 
centers.

The Bioterrorism Training and Curriculum Development Program, created with 
the passage of the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and 
Response Act of 2002, is part of a total federal investment of $4.4 billion 
in fiscal year 2003 for bioterrorism preparedness.

Nationwide, the program will provide for training of at least 38,000 health 
professionals to better respond to an emergency.  It is administered 
through the DHHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration, which also 
funds other health professions programs.

More information is available at http://www.hrsa.gov/bioterrorism.htm.

                                               -30-

Contact: Pamela D. Knudson, Director of Public Affairs, 701-777-4305
pamelak at medicine.nodak.edu
OR:
Dr. Richard Vari, assistant dean for educational affairs, 701-777-3946
rdvari at medicine.nodak.edu
Dr. Linda Olson, director of medical education and program evaluation, 777-3800
liolson at medicine.nodak.edu
10-14-03