Koenig and national health leaders talk about emergency preparedness

Dr. Kristi Koenig, co-director of emergency medical services and the disaster medical sciences fellowship in the UC Irvine School of Medicine, met with Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Dr. David Heymann, executive director for communicable diseases at the World Health Organization, in Washington D.C. to discuss how the medical community can improve preparedness and work together to improve health care delivery in times of need. Koenig, an expert in disaster medicine and emergency management, worked with these health leaders at the Second National Congress on Health System Readiness earlier this month, in which a pandemic influenza scenario was used for discussion on how health care providers and public health officials can best prepare for emergencies.