Homeland Security Hosted Pandemic Conferences

The Pennsylvania Office of Homeland Security and Pennsylvania Department of Health, in partnership with the United States Attorney's Offices for the Eastern District (U.S. Attorney William McSwain), Western District (U.S. Attorney Scott Brady) and Middle District (U.S. Attorney David Freed) hosted four Anti-terrorism Advisory Council - Bioterrorism Conferences in 2019 with a focus on world's pandemics.  There were over 600 guests to include physicians, nurses, public health officials, law enforcement, emergency management and Fire/EMS personnel in attendance.

Homeland Security invited renowned experts: Dr. Ali Kahn, Dr. Sharon Medcalf and Keith Hansen from the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska, along with Dr. Michael Lynch from the University of Pittsburgh's School of Medicine, Dr. Gary Smith and Dr. Helen Aceto from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Samuel Shartar and Sharon Vanairsdale from Emory University Hospital, Dr. Charles Barbera and Dr. Deborah Powell of Reading Hospital, Tower Health, along with federal, state and local public health and law enforcement officials to present on biothreats, epidemiology, protective measures in hospitals, and public health response protocols. 

Our Commonwealth has cutting-edge medical universities and hospitals with clinical and educational medical professionals who put Pennsylvania on the forefront of medical advances. Recently, information has been released by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's (UPMC) Center for Vaccine Research regarding the Covid-19. The vaccine lab has redirected all its research to SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 pandemic, at the secure location on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.