GCHS Expo Programs

The Beam Helmet Team has had several grants to develop better powered air purifying prototypes. They are currently working on avenues in innovation to move these ideas to market. Research is also underway to better understand the impact of fan speeds on air purifying performance with colleagues in the College of Public Health at UNMC.

Contact: Elizabeth Beam, PhD, RN |  ebeam@unmc.edu 

Webpage: Beam Helmet Project Team | College of Nursing | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Our mission is to collaborate with the agricultural community in the Central States and beyond to advance research, intervention, education, and outreach. We aim to identify the causes of injury and illness and to develop, implement, and evaluate prevention strategies that lead to measurable improvements in the health and safety of agricultural workers and their families.

Contact:

• Risto Rautiainen, PhD | Director |  rrautiainen@unmc.edu
• Ellen Duysen, MPH, COHC | Program Coordinator |  ellen.duysen@unmc.edu

Webpage:

• Central States Center for Agricultural Safety and Health | College of Public Health | University of Nebraska Medical Center

The COPH Water, Climate and Health Program pioneers interdisciplinary research, education, and collaborative solutions to public health challenges associated with water and climate in Nebraska and around the world. Our team brings a diverse array of specialized expertise to address environmental health challenges. This initiative is a joint effort between the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, the Daugherty Water for Food Global Institute at the University of Nebraska, and the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

Contacts:

• Jesse Bell, PhD | Director | jesse.bell@unmc.edu 

Webpage: 

• Water, Climate and Health Program | College of Public Health | University of Nebraska Medical Center

The "Ebola, Emerging Infectious Diseases & the Eye" program, developed in the wake of the West Africa Ebola virus disease outbreak (2013-2016), seeks to understand the sight-threatening consequences of Ebola, mpox, and other emerging infectious diseases that affect the eye. Using a combination of molecular analysis, immunology, and ophthalmic imaging tools, our team has performed research with in-country partners to impact ophthalmic care for Ebola survivors and patients in West Africa. These efforts have led to the development of ophthalmic infrastructure and capacity in Freetown, Sierra Leone, while advancing U.S. diplomacy efforts in the region. Growing partnerships and programs have been developed recently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zimbabwe, and South Africa.

Contact:

• Steven Yeh, MD, Program Director | syeh@unmc.edu

Webpage:

• Ebola, Emerging Infectious Diseases and the Eye | Global Center for Health Security | University of Nebraska Medical Center

The UNMC Emerging Pathogens Laboratory (EPL) bridges novel infectious disease diagnostic development with patient- and community-centered implementation strategies. The EPL collaborates with partners in the community, public health, academia, industry, and government sectors to support distributed and equitable access to high-quality infectious disease testing and infectious disease medical countermeasures clinical research. The EPL serves as a GCLP-compliant special processing laboratory to support clinical trials and the Clinical Characterization Protocol for Severe Emerging Infections research portfolio.

Contact:

• Jana Broadhurst, MD, PhD, Director, Emerging Pathogens Lab | jana.broadhurst@unmc.edu

Dr. Carnes’s lab focuses extensively on interdisciplinary research projects aimed at combining inorganic nanomaterials with biological materials and living cells. Original work has centered on the development of artificial matrices to enhance cell viability for use in biosensors, which has led to a consistent publication record in high-impact journals. This well-received work has generated considerable translational research (maximizing intellectual property), as well as funded proposals that seek to create new materials for a wide variety of cell-based devices for various applications. These range from extreme-environment sensing and energy production to investigations of cell signaling pathways and collective cellular behavior. We have since extended our applications of these biotic/abiotic systems to create organic and inorganic nanoparticles and microparticles for use in targeted delivery of cancer therapeutics and medical countermeasures for applications in public health and chemical/biological defense with funding from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.

Contact:

• Eric Carnes, PhD | Program Director 

Webpage: 

• https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth//departments/environmental/facultyandstaff/eric-carnes.html

The University of Nebraska’s Global Center for Health Security (GCHS) was established in 2017 to provide a platform for health system preparedness, recognition, and response to catastrophic public health emergencies while also providing comprehensive capabilities in research, education and training, and health system operations.With a mission to innovate and advance preparedness and response for emerging infectious diseases and public health emergencies while building capacity and capability for clinical operations for health security by leveraging research, education and training, and technical performance, the GCHS has become an invaluable international, national, and local resource for the management of high consequence infections.

Contact:

• John Lowe, PhD | Director | jjlowe@unmc.edu 

Webpage: 

• Home | Global Center for Health Security | University of Nebraska Medical Center

iEXCEL is a transformative program creating a new model for healthcare education, training and research. iEXCEL stands for the Interprofessional Experiential Center for Enduring Learning. 

Contact:

• Ben Stobbe, RN, MBA | Assistant Vice Chancellor for Advanced & Statewide Simulation, iEXCEL | benjamin.stobbe@unmc.edu

Webpage:

• iEXCEL | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. Carnes’s lab focuses extensively on interdisciplinary research projects aimed at combining inorganic nanomaterials with biological materials and living cells. Original work has centered on the development of artificial matrices to enhance cell viability for use in biosensors, which has led to a consistent publication record in high-impact journals. This well-received work has generated considerable translational research (maximizing intellectual property), as well as funded proposals that seek to create new materials for a wide variety of cell-based devices for various applications. These range from extreme-environment sensing and energy production to investigations of cell signaling pathways and collective cellular behavior. We have since extended our applications of these biotic/abiotic systems to create organic and inorganic nanoparticles and microparticles for use in targeted delivery of cancer therapeutics and medical countermeasures for applications in public health and chemical/biological defense with funding from the National Institutes of Health and Department of Defense.

Contact: 

• Eric Carnes, PhD | Program Director | eric.carnes@unmc.edu 

Website:

• https://www.unmc.edu/publichealth//departments/environmental/facultyandstaff/eric-carnes.html

The work of the Infectious Aerosol Research Group is generally in the field of aerobiology, the study of airborne microorganisms. This includes biological sensors, building and facility sensing networks, and development of aerosol measurement tools, including those for unmanned aerial vehicles and for biodetection/collection activities. This also includes work to understand optical and other signatures that can be used to detect and identify biological aerosol and studied how those signatures change over time. They have also developed novel methods to study bioaerosol hazards in medical environments. Most recently, these methods have been applied to characterizing SARS-CoV-2 aerosol in the patient environment and characterizing aerosol risk in public spaces.

Contacts: 

• Josh Santarpia, PhD | Principal Investigator | josh.santarpia@unmc.edu 

Webpage: Infectious Aerosol Research Group | Global Center for Health Security | University of Nebraska Medical Center

Wastewater streams are valuable sources for pathogen surveillance. In a collaboration between the Evans and Wiley labs, we developed a process to isolate, characterize, and quantify infectious influenza virus particles from wastewater. This analysis workflow can support broad initiatives for influenza surveillance, mitigation, and emergence.

Contacts:

• Jared Evans, PhD | Prinicpal Investigator | jarevans@unmc.edu 
• Mike Wiley, PhD | Principal Investigator | mike.wiley@unmc.edu

The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (NBU) Translational Research Team collaborates with EMS workers, educators, trainers, clinicians, researchers, and laboratorians to build research capacity that drives operational use assessments and translational research initiatives for high consequence infectious disease, transportation scenarios, and care delivery strategies. Current focus areas include exploration of aerosol containment efficacy across a selection of individual transport devices and assessment of PPE contamination patterns while utilizing specific donning and doffing procedures.

Contacts:

• Josh Santarpia, PhD | Prinicpal Investigator | josh.santarpia@unmc.edu
• Angie Vasa, MSN, RN | Project Lead | avasa@nebraskamed.com 
• Natasha Fields, BS, BA | Project Manager | natfields@unmc.edu 

The National Disaster Medical System Pilot Program is a Uniformed Services University-funded program to strengthen interoperable partnerships across the NDMS to care for the nation’s combat casualties by increasing medical surge capabilities and capacity. As one of the eight NDMS Pilot Sites across the country, GCHS is working to establish a collaborative network of federal and civilian partners in the Omaha region to inform and enhance system-wide medical surge capacity, capability, and interoperability.

Contacts:

• Shelly Schwedhelm, MSN, RN, NEA-BC | shelly.schwedhelm@unmc.edu 

• Jocelyn Herstein, PhD, MPH | jocelyn.herstein@unmc.edu 

• Angie Ling, MSN, FNP-C | anling@unmc.edu 

• Shelly Schwedhelm, MSN, RN, NEA-BC | shelly.schwedhelm@unmc.edu 
• Lauren Sauer, PhD, MSc | lsauer@unmc.edu 

Webpage:

•  National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) | NETEC

• Rachel Lookadoo, JD | Principal Investigator | rachel.lookadoo@unmc.edu 

• Lauren Sauer, PhD, MSc | Co-Prinicpal Investigator | lsauer@unmc.edu 

• Sophie Shea, MPH | Executive Director | sshea@unmc.edu

The Region 7 RESPTC is recognized as a national leader in special pathogen preparedness and provides training, education, and resources to National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) partners across HHS Region 7 to advance preparedness and response capabilities for high consequence infectious disease (HCID). The team is utilizing extended reality technology to enhance the end user experience and improve access to high quality training on the "Identify, Isolate, and Inform" process for patients suspected to have a HCID.

Contacts:

• Angie Vasa | Director Emergency Preparedness and Special Pathogen Programs | avasa@nebraskamed.com

Webpage:

• https://www.unmc.edu/healthsecurity/programs/nbu/index.html 

The Targeted Acquisition of Reference Materials Augmenting Capabilities (TARMAC)  Initiative is a Joint Program Executive Office funded program focused on characterizing pathogens of military interest to ensure existing medical countermeasures remain effective against current threats. When samples cannot be returned to U.S. labs, the team engages with local institutions to provide genomic sequencing support and training. These efforts support public health response during outbreaks and foster sustainable and mutually beneficial global relationships. Thus far, support has been provided to laboratories in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Laos, Liberia, Malaysia, Rwanda, Senegal, and South Korea.

Contact: 

• Michael Wiley, Phd, Principal Investigator | mike.wiley@unmc.edu