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Center for Disaster Medicine Demonstrates Emergency Response Equipment for Center Interns

Robert W. Amler, MD, Dean of the School of Public Health and Michael Reilly, MPH, NREMT-P, MICP, Assistant Director, Center of Disaster Medicine and
Assistant Professor of Public Health Practice, Health Policy and Management demonstrate the uses of mobile emergency response equipment to medical students who are completing summer internships at the Center for Disaster Medicine.

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Dean Amler Speaks at Global Health Congress in Vienna
Opens Session on Children’s Environmental Health Clinics

Vienna, Austria—More than 200 medical and environmental experts from 48 countries on 6 continents met here in June to review worldwide progress in protecting children from environmental threats to their health and safety. Robert W. Amler, MD, Dean of the School of Public Health opened a session sponsored by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Lecturing initially in German, Dean Amler described his creation, ten years ago, of a new clinical resource – the North American network of pediatric environmental health specialty units (PEHSUs).

The clinical network founded by Dean Amler has proved highly successful. Each specialty clinic is based in a university medical center. Three different specialties (pediatrics, occupational medicine, and toxicology) work together as a team to solve complex clinical cases. Some cases have involved groups of children exposed to hazardous chemicals from spills or unlicensed spraying of pesticides. Other cases were individual children or families with unusual symptoms or illnesses that were found to be caused by toxic releases that otherwise might have continued undetected.

Dean Amler established pilot funding for PEHSU clinics in Boston, New York, and Washington, while chief medical officer at the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, a part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that provides EPA with highly technical medical support. Over time, he secured Congressional funding for a nationwide network of 10 clinics. Canada and Mexico quickly followed suit with similar clinics of their own. Many other countries that are opening their own PEHSU clinics – among them Argentina, Germany, Philippines, and Spain – sent representatives to Vienna to obtain information and guidance from Dean Amler and some of the clinic directors. A second session, in Mexico City, is planned later this year.

Dean Amler and other founding members of the International Network for Children’s Health, Environment, and Safety (INCHES), which convened the conference, were recognized at a reception hosted by the Lord Mayor of Vienna.

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