Center for Health and Homeland

Security

Welcome to the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security ("CHHS"). CHHS' mission is to develop, coordinate, and expand scientific research, policy development, training, legal analysis, government consulting, and scholarly programs within the University's six professional schools relating to counterterrorism crisis and consequence management issues.

• CHHS Director Biography
• CHHS Staff
• CHHS in the News
• Citizen's Emergency Response Tool Kit
• UMB Homeland Security Capabilities
• Middle Atlantic Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research
• Information on Avian Flu

Information below includes:

• Latest Alerts
• Most Recent Media Coverage
• CHHS Newsletter
• Upcoming Presentations & Events
• Recent Presentations & Events
• Recent Articles by CHHS

Support Innovation - CHHS featured in the University's Capital Campaign

Vulnerable Populations:
Emergency Preparedness Conference

In partnership with the McCormick Tribune Foundation, the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security will host a conference entitled Vulnerable Populations:  Emergency Planning, November 5-7 in Washington, D.C.  Hurricanes Katrina and Rita underscored the need to include vulnerable populations - the poor, the isolated, the elderly, the disabled, children, immigrants, and refugees in emergency planning.  Researchers, advocates, and emergency responders from across the country will convene at this conference to assess the status of emergency preparedness for vulnerable populations.  Conference participants will develop a National Action Plan designed to ensure that vulnerable populations are prepared for catastrophic emergencies.

Visit the conference webpage for more information.

CHHS was featured in an hour-long segment on
Live Response

The segment explains why COOP is a cornerstone of disaster preparedness and highlights the Center's capabilities. 

The broadcast includes a segment from a recent COOP training in Olympia, Washington, and interviews with CHHS Associate Director Erin Hahn, Senior Law and Policy Analyst Alexandra Podolny, and Law and Policy Analyst Michael Vesely.  For more information on the Center's COOP training and resources write us at: dhscoop@law.umaryland.edu
For video. For the transcript.

CHHS presented:  "Maryland Law Alums Confront the War on Terror," held on September 12, 2007.

CHHS Director Michael Greenberger moderated a panel of three CHHS/Maryland law alums and CHHS Associate Director Erin Hahn at the University of Maryland School of Law's annual 9/11 Commemoration Event. 

For a recent article on the discussions at the 9/11 Commemoration Event click here.

Wildfire Health Effects

The National Library of Medicine has released a new resource focused on the health effects from wildfires.  The California Wildfires web page includes information on the health effects from fires and exposure to smoke; links to air quality resources, environmental clean-up following fires, and animals in disasters.

 CHHS Newsletter 

To receive a hard copy of the current newsletter click here.

Most Recent Media Coverage:  

• CHHS Director explains that a lack of knowledge about the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 at its passage has contributed to the current economic woes.
  Gulf Daily News (May. 02, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director discusses the Supreme Court decision that held an Indiana law requiring voters to show photo identification to be acceptable.
  WUSA-TV (Apr. 30, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director discusses the decision of the Federal Open Market Committee, the policy-making body of the U.S. Federal Reserve, to lower its key overnight rate on loans between banks by 0.25 of a percentage point to 2.00 percent.
  BBC Radio (Apr. 30, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director explains the confusion surrounding the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000.
  Reuters (Apr. 30, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director argues "that a different approach to derivatives regulation in 1998 would have helped avert the worst of today's credit crisis."
  The New York Times (Apr. 27, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director comments on Wall Street's "efforts to create a clearing entity that would function as the middleman between firms on both sides of a credit-default swap."
  The Wall Street Journal (Apr. 24, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director discusses "the manipulation of commodity prices, including gasoline and heating oil, by speculators in deregulated financial markets and touched on the manner in which those markets have led to the present credit and financial meltdown."
  WATR Radio (Apr. 19, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director explains that a lack of federal regulation has helped lead to "Amaranth, Enron, and now the subprime crisis."
  Congressional Quarterly (Apr. 14, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director joins expert panel and discusses legal issues surrounding "natural and manmade epidemics"
  Stanford News Service (Apr. 14, 2008)
  
  
• CHHS Director discusses "issues connected to the subprime meltdown."
  Fox Morning News (Apr. 14, 2008)
  
  

For CHHS in the News Archives click here

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Upcoming Presentations and Events

• The CHHS Director will participate in the 31st Annual Health Law Professors Conference, to be held at Drexel University College of Law in Philadelphia from June 5-7, 2008.  The Director will participate in a break-out session on "Public Health and Pandemics."  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director will speak at the 25th Firehouse Expo on July 25, 2008, from 10:15 to 11:45 a.m.  The presentation, titled "Preparing Vulnerable Populations for Emergency Situations" will take place in Baltimore, Maryland.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director will participate at the 2008 National Homeland Security Summit, being held September 8-10, 2008 in Arlington, VA.  The Director will participate in a break-out session on "Creating Citizen Preparedness Plans."  This session will explain that in order to enhance community preparedness, it is necessary to develop a system to kindle citizen involvement in emergency planning, with emphasis on instituting a CERT program to train community volunteers to assist during an emergency and developing a method to distribute emergency kits, evacuation plans, emergency care charts, and basic victim aid.  For more information click here.
  
  
  

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Recent Presentations and Events

• The CHHS Director was the featured speaker at the Homeland Security Executive Breakfast on May 8, 2008, from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m.  The event was sponsored by the National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA).  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director was a panelist at the ABA Section of Individual Rights and Responsibilities Election Year Summit on April 18, 2008.  The panel, titled "Disaster Response and Individual Rights" took place in Washington, D.C.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Senior Counsel for the Special Needs Population Project  made a presentation about inner city emergency preparedness during a conference organized by the Yale Center for Public Health Preparedness from April 17-18, 2008.  The event, titled "Addressing the Needs of Diverse Populations in Community Preparedness Efforts" took place in New Haven, Connecticut.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director participated in the conference Germ Warfare, Contagious Disease, and the Constitution to be held in Washington, D.C. on April 11, 2008.  The event was hosted by The Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and the Constitution Project in Washington, D.C.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director participated in a session during a program at Seattle University School of Law titled, "How Do We Decide Who Are `Terrorists' . . . What Do We Do With Them While We're Deciding . . .  and How Much `Process' Are They `Due'?" on February 29, 2008.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director spoke at the Spring Speaker Series at the University of Baltimore on February 21, 2008.  The Director spoke about homeland security and information technology to bachelor of science students in the Applied Information Technology Department. 
  
  
• The CHHS Director spoke to the University of Maryland School of Law faculty at a lunchtime faculty forum on February 20, 2008.
  
  
• A CHHS staffer, now serving as a Planner and Project Manager for the Maryland Emergency Management Agency, spoke to the delegation of emergency management professionals from Algeria on February 7, 2008 at the University of Maryland School of Law.  The staffer spoke about emergency response laws and the emergency management structure in the U.S.
  
  
• The CHHS Director spoke during a break-out session titled, "Food Safety- Hardening Defenses Against Bioterrorism and Natural Disasters" which was held during the Third Annual Homeland Security Law Institute.  This Institute was hosted by the American Bar Association Section of Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice.  The event took place from January 17-18, 2008 in Washington, D.C.  For more information click here.
  
  
• The CHHS Director spoke during a panel discussion on pandemic preparedness and civil liberties, sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), following a press conference, on January 14, 2008 at the National Press Club.
  
  
  View All Past Events

Recent Articles by CHHS:

• Michael Greenberger, (CHHS Director), Did the Founding Fathers Do 'A Heckuva Job'? Authorization For the of Use Federal Troops to Prevent the Loss of a Major American City 87 B.U. L. REV. 397 (April 2007).
  

• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Teaching New Dogs Old Tricks: Reshaping the Department of Homeland Security’s Technology Development Infrastructure, 47 JURIMETRICS J. 281 (Spring 2007).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet: The Inevitable Post-Hamdan Conflict between the Supreme Court and the Political Branches, 66 MD. L. REV. 805 (2007).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Did the Founding Fathers Do 'A Heckuva Job'? Authorization For the of Use Federal Troops to Prevent the Loss of a Major American City, U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2006-43 (December 2006).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Yes, Virginia: The President Can Deploy Federal Troops to Prevent the Loss of a Major American City From a Devastating Natural Catastrophe, U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2006-37 (November 2006).
  
  
• Darren P. Mareinnis (Senior Law and Medical Consultant), Case Study of Pandemic Flu: An Assessment of the Potential Effects of an Influenza Pandemic on Local Communities, (November 2006).
  
  

• Michael Greenberger, (CHHS Director), The Alfonse and Gaston of Governmental Response to National Public Health Emergencies:  Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina for the Federal Government and the States, 58 ADMIN. L. REV. 611 (2006).
  

• Krista Horochena (Senior Law & Policy Analyst), Quarantine in America: Do We Trust Our Government to Protect Us?, Women in International Security Issue Brief, Summer 2006.
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), False Conflict: Who's In Charge of National Public Health Catastrophes, 31 Admin. & Reg. L. News 2 (Spring 2006) (Copyright American Bar Association 2006.  Reproduced with permission. All rights reserved.  This information or any portion thereof may not be copied or disseminated in any form or by any means or downloaded or stored in an electronic database or retrieval system without the express written consent of the American Bar Association).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), The Need for Closed Circuit Television in Mass Transit Systems, 6 L. Enforcement Executive F. 151 (2006) (www.leeforum.com).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Choking Bioshield: The Department of Homeland Security's Stranglehold on Biodefense Vaccine Development, 1 Microbe 260 (2006).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), The Role of the Federal Government in Catastrophic Health Emergencies: Lessons Learned from Hurricane Katrina, U of Maryland Legal Studies Research Paper No. 2005-52 (October 2005).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), The 800 Pound Gorilla Sleeps: The Federal Government's Lackadaisical Liability and Compensation Policies in the Context of Pre-event Vaccine Immunization Programs, 8 J. Health Care L. & Pol'y 7 (2005).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Indefinite Material Witness Detention Without Probable Cause: Thinking Outside the Fourth Amendment, in AT WAR WITH CIVIL RIGHTS AND LIBERTIES (Thomas E. Baker and John F. Stack, Jr., eds., 2005).
  
  
• Michael Greenberger (CHHS Director), Supreme Court Review, Terrorism Cases: A 'Third' Magna Carta, The National Law Journal (Aug. 2, 2004).