June 2004
Media Contacts: Amy Comeau
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404-727-8445
Janet Christenbury
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404-727-8599
Emory University Health Sciences Center
Global government health partners to meet in Atlanta, discuss emerging biologic threatsATLANTA, GA -- Just two weeks after the G-8 Summit on the Georgia coast, global government health leaders from more than 70 developed and developing nations will convene June 21-25 in Atlanta, at a forum that could almost be called the "G-80" for global health.
In a time when emerging biological threats -- intended and natural, such as SARS, West Nile Virus, anthrax and HIV/AIDS -- honor no borders or boundaries among countries, the need for collaborative partnership and critical care from nurses, physicians and health leaders is acute.
Chief Nursing Officers, Chief Medical Officers and Ministers of Health from across the globe will meet with leaders from the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Pan American Health Organization, UNICEF, The Carter Center, Emory University and from other major organizations and countries, under the umbrella of the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing at Emory University School of Nursing.
"Partnerships between government medical and nursing leaders are critical," says Marla E. Salmon, ScD, RN, FAAN, dean of Emory's Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing and director of the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing, secretariat for the conference. "Many key partnerships, built at our first global conference, continue to bring significant results to the world of global health as will new working relationships cultivated at this forum."
Jeffery P. Koplan, MD, MPH, vice president for academic affairs for Emory's Woodruff Health Sciences Center, and conference co-chair with Dean Salmon, concurs, saying, "Threats like SARS or new strains of influenza travel quickly across national borders and demand quick, coordinated response from healthcare leaders globally. It is vitally important to have leaders who know and trust their colleagues and have thought deeply about the required responses ahead of time."
The conference, entitled "Global Government Health Partners Leadership Forum 2004: Managing Emerging Biological Threats Through Professional Collaboration," will be held June 24-25, 2004 at The Carter Center. Health leaders will discuss challenges, form partnerships and devise approaches to handle global emerging biological threats. All will leave the conference with individually crafted, functional plans to carry back to their native countries.
Featured speakers include: Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention & Administrator of the Agency of Toxic Substances and Disease Registry Jack C. Chow, MD, MPH, MBA, MS, Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization, for HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria Hon. Dr. Denzil L. Douglas, Prime Minister, St. Kitts and Nevus Peter McDermott, RN, Chief, HIV/AIDS Section, UNICEF Thomas Bornemann, EdD, Director of Mental Health Program, The Carter Center Allison J. McGeer, MD, FRCPC, Director, Infection Control, Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, Canada; Ms. McGeer is also a SARS survivor. Hon. Janet Museveni, First Lady of Uganda; Sir George Alleyne MD, Director Emeritus, Pan American Health Organization; and Ms. Anne Jarvie, Chief Nursing Officer of Scotland will be awarded International Nursing Awards for Advancing Human Health on the evening of June 24.
The forum is preceded by three days of further collaboration and networking. Nursing leaders will gather at the "Government Chief Nursing Officers' Institute and Network Meeting" June 21-22. The Institute will open the table for nursing officials to discuss the healthcare system challenges of their particular country and will encourage open exchanges to address global health and leadership issues. A round of pre-conference workshops on June 23 for all invited health leaders will address topics including community-level preparedness and response, healthcare of women in war-torn settings, safe water and the healthcare workforce shortage, especially in response to HIV/AIDS.
"This will be the second international nursing conference we have hosted at Emory, trying to meet an urgent worldwide need for coordination, collaboration and shared information among global health leaders within and across country lines," says Dean Salmon.
Emory University, the only university presenting such a conference, is uniquely positioned to do so with former U.S. government health leaders, Drs. Koplan and Salmon, leading the charge and through Emory's collaborative partnerships with The Carter Center, CDC and CARE. Dr. Koplan was director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 1998 to 2002 before coming to Emory. Dr. Salmon is the former director of the Division of Nursing for the United States Department of Health and Human Services and former chair of the World Health Organization's Global Advisory Group on Nursing and Midwifery.
For further information visit the Lillian Carter Center for International Nursing online at http://prod-nursing.emory.edu/lccin/.
Major funders and collaborating partners for the conference are Emory University; Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing; Johnson & Johnson; The Claus M. Halle Institute for Global Learning; Woodruff Health Sciences Center; the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); General Electric; the Nuffield Trust; Coca-Cola Company-Africa; Saint Joseph's Hospital; Rollins School of Public Health; the Taskforce for Child Survival and Development; The Carter Presidential Center; the Commonwealth Health Minister's Steering Committee for Nursing and Midwifery; and the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S.
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