NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Rutgers University today formally launched a new institute to address issues that remain fresh in the minds of residents across the state and region - emergency preparedness, disaster response and homeland security. The institute will coordinate the university's research, education, and readiness initiatives in these areas and serve as a single point of access for government agencies, businesses and other groups that contribute to and benefit from these efforts.
The Rutgers Institute for Emergency Preparedness and Homeland Security encompasses new and established programs at the university that aim to protect people and property in the event of disasters and emergencies. It will promote collaborations among Rutgers experts across all statewide locations and in fields that include medicine, public health, life sciences, engineering, physical sciences, humanities, social sciences, public policy, public safety, and law.
"Rutgers established the institute to play a leadership role, nationally and internationally, in the fields of emergency preparedness, disaster response and homeland security," said Clifton R. Lacy, a physician and the institute's director. "It brings together experts from the broad spectrum of disciplines that exist at Rutgers University - to forge collaborations among those professionals and between Rutgers faculty and entities in the public and private sectors."
Lacy was formerly New Jersey's health commissioner and president of Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital.
The inaugural conference features addresses by New Jersey Acting Attorney General John Jay Hoffman and Tom Ridge, former Pennsylvania governor and U.S. homeland security secretary.
Read the full release at the Rutgers University website:
http://news.rutgers.edu/news-release/emergency-preparedness-disaster-response-homeland-security-focus-new-rutgers-institute/20140605#.U5IJLfldVVZ
