Mission:

Shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, University of Maryland President David J. Ramsay, DM, DPhil, created the University of Maryland Center for Health and Homeland Security to coordinate and expand upon the extensive scientific research, health programs, policy development, training, legal analysis, and government consulting done at the University relating to homeland security.

The University's six professional schools (of medicine, law, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, and social work), the graduate science program on the UMB campus, and the University's acclaimed Health Sciences and Human Services Library form the core of CHHS's significant work. These institutions and CHHS have been called upon repeatedly by the governmental units within the National Capital Region, the City of Baltimore and surrounding localities, the State of Maryland, and the federal government to address a broad range of problems and policies pertaining to the Nation's war on terrorism. CHHS not only serves as a clearinghouse for these efforts, but develops and supports programs within the University's academic and research community to focus the extensive expertise and resources of the University to the public and private sectors' important work on homeland security.

In keeping with its mission, CHHS also sponsors a series of scholarly programs relating to important homeland security issues, including issues specifically addressed to health and governmental policy actions to be taken to deal directly with the health consequences of potential terrorist attacks. In this regard, CHHS also fills the demand created by the national and local media to explain to the public the novel and complex scientific and policy issues related to counterterrorism strategies.

Michael Greenberger, JD, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Law and a former high-ranking United States Justice Department official with counterterrorism responsibilities, is the CHHS director. President Ramsay, chairs the CHHS's board of directors, which includes the deans of the University's medical, law, dental, pharmacy, nursing, and social work schools.