Professor Michael Stoto is serving as the chair of the model work group helping to design a new National Health Security Preparedness Index (NHSPI). This project, a cooperative agreement between CDC and the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, is intended to develop an objective set of common indicators that can be used to assess progress in achieving health preparedness capabilities and drive continuous quality improvement.
Under the leadership of undergraduate students in its Health Care Management and Policy program, the Georgetown University Department of Health Systems Administration has established a new student chapter of AcademyHealth (http://www.academyhealth.org). Along with the national organization, the Georgetown Student Chapter seeks to improve health and health care by generating new knowledge and moving knowledge into action. In its first event, the chapter hosted AcademyHealth President and CEO Lisa Simpson, who spoke about translating research into policy using obesity as a case example. The chapter’s second event capitalized on the recent Supreme Court oral arguments about the Constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. A panel of lawyers, health policy and government experts, and Congressional staff members led a lively discussion that drew a crowd from around the university.