Pitt, UPMC World Leaders With New Biosecurity Center

In attracting the world's leading center on biosecurity and eight of its top researchers, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) have moved to the forefront as the international leaders in bioterrorism preparedness, research, and response.

The Center for Biosecurity, which officially joined Pitt and UPMC Nov. 1., has been crafted from the world's leading center for biodefense research and analysis, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies. The new Center for Biosecurity has its headquarters in Baltimore, Md., with offices in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.

The eight faculty members of the Johns Hopkins center will received appointments in Pitt's School of Medicine and Graduate School of Public Health, including D.A. Henderson, who is known worldwide for his work in eradicating smallpox. Henderson, senior advisor at the new center, recently served as President George W. Bush's chief bioterrorism advisor and accompanied the president on his visit to Pitt in February 2002.

Two of the center's other internationally renowned faculty members lead the new unit: Tara O'Toole, a former assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Energy, is the center's chief executive officer, and Thomas V. Inglesby, former deputy director of the Johns Hopkins Center, is chief operations officer.

"Bioterrorism is the greatest national security threat of the 21st century," O'Toole said at the news conference announcing the new center. "Bioweapons attacks could cause death and suffering on a catastrophic scale, wreak enormous economic and social disruption, and even threaten core democratic processes. Adequate response to this threat does not depend on our military strength but on medical and public health systems and availability of effective drugs and vaccines."

"In 1998," Pitt Chancellor Mark A. Nordenberg said, "long before Sept. 11 or the subsequent anthrax attacks, Drs. Henderson, O'Toole, and Inglesby had the foresight to establish the first academic center devoted to biodefense."

Nordenberg went on to say that in 1998 there were no other think tanks or governmental initiatives devoted to preventing the development of biological weapons, lessening their power, or alleviating the human suffering if prevention did not work. Their multidisciplinary and rigorous scientific approach to this mission quickly established them with governmental bodies, scientists, the medical community, and the media as undisputed authorities in this arena.

"We are pleased to welcome such visionary and prominent scientists to our faculty," Nordenberg continued.

"This renowned strategic policy group, coupled with our existing faculty and operational resources, will place Pittsburgh at the very pinnacle of international leadership in this field," UPMC President Jeffrey Romoff said. "Models for bioterrorism response developed in this region can become the template for the nation, and vaccines and drugs developed in our laboratories will have the potential to save thousands of lives in the event of such a devastating attack."

According to Henderson, UPMC is uniquely positioned to be a leader in biodefense because it is one of the most highly integrated major health-care systems in the nation.

"Its 20 hospitals and 37,000 employees are organized in a way that facilitates rapid communication, resource sharing, planning, and coordination of health services that provide care for a large portion of Western Pennsylvania."

Henderson went on to say that the breadth and integration of the UPMC hospital system makes it the ideal platform in the country upon which to design and test critical prototypes for medical and public health biopreparedness.

Henderson, O'Toole, and Inglesby believe that by working with UPMC many of the necessary model programs for biodefense can be developed in Western Pennsylvania.

The existence of workable model programs will mean that national defense dollars can be realigned so that Pittsburgh and municipalities throughout the country receive much-needed support for their police, fire departments, and healthcare facilities that will be on the front lines to deal with such a disaster. The major impediment to this deployment of funds occurring now is the lack of adequate models.

O'Toole said that society must develop new paradigms because responding to the consequences of bioattacks will not depend on our military strength but on medical and public health systems and the availability of effective drugs and vaccines. She said the government cannot build these systems alone, but must rely on health care centers and scientific institutions to develop workable civil defense models and effective drugs and vaccines. • MR