UNMC today will host Charles Schable, director of the Office of Terrorism Preparedness and Emergency Response at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in Atlanta.
Schable is in Omaha for the two-day Region VII Bioterrorism Preparedness Collaboration Meeting, organized by the Nebraska Center for Bioterrorism Education.
While on campus, UNMC representatives will brief Schable on the University Center for Biosecurity, Nebraska Public Health Lab, Health Professions Tracking Center and Nebraska Center for Bioterrorism Education, as well as UNMC’s advances in infectious disease research and information technology.
Schable also will tour part of the Durham Research Center and view construction of the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, a specialized 10-bed area in University Tower designed to contain a disease or illness in the event of a terrorist event, or other naturally occurring event, such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome).
Schable provides leadership in policy formation, program planning and development, program management and operations and budget formulation for all terrorism preparedness issues concerning the CDC/ATSDR.
Prior to his current position, Schable served as director of the Bioterrorism Preparedness & Response Program from 2002-2004. He also was deputy director of the Division of AIDS, STD & TB Laboratory Research (DASTLR) at the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) from 1998-2002. In addition, he was the chief of the HIV Serology Section, Immunology Branch of the DASTLR from 1984-1998 and the NCID Chief of the Serology Section, Hepatitis Branch of the Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases (DVRD) in the NCID from 1976-1984. Schable worked as a microbiologist in the Hepatitis Division of the NCID from 1967-1976.
Schable received a bachelor of science degree in microbiology from Arizona State University and a master of science degree in microbiology/immunology from Arizona State University. He is the author and co-author of 85 research and review articles.