Speaker Biographies
Day 1
State of the State on Pandemic Influenza
Welcome & Introductions
Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH
Principal Investigator & Executive Director
Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness
University of California, Berkeley
Email: aragon@berkeley.edu
Dr. Aragón is Principal Investigator and Executive Director at the Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. Before coming to the UC Berkeley School of Public Health Dr. Aragón worked for eight years as director of Community Health Epidemiology and Disease Control at the San Francisco Department of Public Health and as Deputy County Health Officer for the City and County of San Francisco. At SFDPH he directed communicable disease control and prevention, bioterrorism preparedness and response planning, and the epidemiologic and effectiveness research unit. Dr. Aragón's education and training include UC Berkeley (BA Molecular Biology, DrPH Epidemiology), Harvard Medical School (MD, MPH), and UC San Francisco (Internal Medicine, Clinical Infectious Diseases, and AIDS epidemiology fellowship). His curriculum vitae is available at http://www.medepi.net/aragon, and he is developer and maintainer of EpiTools.Net ( http://www.epitools.net ).
Human Seasonal & Pandemic Influenza
John Talarico, D.O., M.P.H.
Chief, Bioterrorism Planning and Preparedness Section, Immunization Branch
California Department of Health Services
Email: jtalarico@ladhs.org
Dr. Talarico is currently the Chief of the Bioterrorism Planning and Preparedness Section within the Immunization Branch of the California Department of Health Services. He has been involved in both state and local pandemic influenza preparedness activities since 2005 and was previously the Acting Director of the Bioterrorism Preparedness Program for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. He is Board-certified in Pediatrics and Board-eligible in Preventive Medicine. Prior to his position with the Los Angeles County Department of Health, Dr. Talarico held the position of Medical Director for Immunization Program and Bureau Director for Child and Adolescent Health with the New York State Department of Health. During his tenure with the New York State Department of Health he had the opportunity to serve in the anthrax response and planning activities associated with the anthrax release of 2001 as well as being a part of the smallpox preparedness and Strategic National Stockpile activities.
Update on Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza
Ben Sun, DVM, MPVM
State Public Health Veterinarian
California Department of Health Services
Email: bjy1@cdc.gov
Dr. Sun is the State Public Health Veterinarian with the California Department of Health Services. He is a graduate of the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine where he also received a masters in preventive veterinary medicine. He has worked with the Department in veterinary public health for 9 years and previously worked as an epidemiologist with the Sacramento County Health Department. His interests include zoonotic disease control, outbreak investigation, and food safety. Dr. Sun has been working over the past several years on preparedness measures for the possible detection of avian influenza in California.
Community Mitigation: Strategies for Pandemic Influenza: Key Business Considerations
Lisa M. Koonin, MN, MPH
Chief Private and Public Partners Branch, Division of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances
National Center for Health Marketing/CoCHIS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Email: Lkoonin@cdc.gov
Ms. Lisa Koonin serves as Chief of the Private and Public Partners Branch in the Division of Partnerships and Strategic Alliances, National Center for Health Marketing, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In this role, she provides leadership and coordination for partnerships with CDC and business, education, healthcare, federal agencies, and faith-based and community organizations.
Ms Koonin also serves as Director for Business Partnerships for CDC. In this role, she develops and leads effective partnerships among businesses, business organizations, public and private purchasers of health care, and others with CDC and public health. Ms. Koonin provides direction for major initiatives linking public health agencies and the private sector for improving community-level preparedness for public health emergencies and serves as CDC’s Lead for Private Sector pandemic influenza planning and response. Her team has produced checklists and tools for businesses, as well as for educational, health care and faith and community-based organizations to use for pandemic influenza planning and preparedness.
Ms. Koonin has been with CDC since 1987 and previously served as CDC’s Chief for Reproductive Health Surveillance for 12 years. Prior to her employment with CDC, Ms. Koonin spent 10 years in a variety of clinical and faculty nursing leadership positions. Ms. Koonin is a Family Nurse Practitioner and Epidemiologist with a Master of Nursing and a Master of Public Health degree from Emory University. Ms. Koonin actively serves as a member of multiple committees both within CDC and for other organizations. She participates in the White House Homeland Security Council’s Interagency Private Sector Workgroup on Pandemic Influenza. Ms. Koonin has published approximately 50 papers on a variety of health topics.
Public Health Preparedness & Response: National and State Levels
Howard Backer, MD
Chief, Immunization Branch
Chief Medical Consultant, Emergency Preparedness
California Department of Health Services
Email: hbacker@dhs.ca.gov
Dr. Howard Backer is currently Chief of the Immunization Branch, California Department of Health Services (CDHS) and Chief Medical Consultant for Emergency Preparedness for the Department of Health Services. He is the lead for pandemic influenza planning at CDHS. He has served in several special assignments for the state health department, including interim State Public Health Officer. Other recent activities include Chair of the Association of Immunization Managers, and Scholar at the Public Health Leadership Institute. He joined the Division of Communicable Diseases, Immunization Branch, at the California Department of Health Services in 2000, after practicing emergency medicine for 25 years in a variety of settings, including urban county hospitals, small resort communities, and community hospitals. Prior to working at the Health Department, Dr Backer worked with The Permanente Medical Group in Hayward.
He attended medical school at the University of California, San Francisco, followed by an internship at Highland, Alameda County Hospital, and an Emergency Medicine fellowship and residency at San Francisco General Hospital. Many years later, he returned to UCSF for a residency in Preventive Medicine, including at MPH at UC Berkeley. Dr. Backer is board certified in both Emergency Medicine and Public Health/General Preventive Medicine. Other areas of interest and expertise include medicine in remote areas (past-President of the Wilderness Medical Society) and travel medicine (Medical Consultant for Mountain Travel-Sobek).
Public Health Preparedness & Response: Local Level
Muntu Davis, MD
Deputy Health Officer
Alameda County Public Health Department
Email: muntu.davis@acgov.org
Dr. Muntu Davis is currently the Deputy Health Officer for Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the Alameda County Public Health Department (ACPHD). He is the lead physician on the pandemic influenza response planning. Prior to working at the ACPHD, he worked with the California Department of Health Services on pandemic influenza planning for California. His other areas of interest include ways to improve the use of television news, newspapers, and education-entertainment to promote health and health policy changes. He joined the ACPHD in October 2005. Prior to working for the Public Health Department, he practiced medicine in urban and rural primary care and urgent care clinics in Northern and Southern California.
Dr. Davis is board certified in Family Medicine. He received his medical degree from the University of California, Los Angeles and completed a residency in Family Medicine at Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital in Whittier, California. He completed The California Endowment Scholars in Health Policy Fellowship and received his Master of Public Health from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, where he analyzed policies regarding emergency response planning, implementation, evaluation and modification at the county level in California.
Medical Response & Surge Capacity
Cheryl Starling, RN
Threat Assessment Consultant
Kaiser Permanente
Email: cheryl.starling@kp.org
Cheryl Starling has more than 20 years of leadership experience in healthcare and emergency management preparedness, planning, and response. As a registered nurse and director of emergency departments and trauma centers across California for many years, Cheryl has broad experience in healthcare delivery, financing and budget, emergency medical services, ambulatory care services, quality management and disaster preparedness.
In 2000, Cheryl transitioned to government disaster planning in her position as Health Program Manager at the California Emergency Medical Services Authority. While at EMSA, her accomplishments included the management of the annual statewide medical and health exercise and conferences, coordinated the Hospital Emergency Incident Command System education and program improvements, and enjoyed the role of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) grant administrator for California. Cheryl joined the California Homeland Security Training and Exercise Program (HSEEP) in 2005 as lead of the statewide terrorism exercise, “Gold Guardian”, coordinating the exercise for local, regional and state-level responders across Northern California.
In 2006, Cheryl led the California Department of Health Services Pandemic Influenza planning as project manager, developing an operational preparedness and response plan. In this role, Cheryl collaborated with local public health and healthcare providers, and state governmental agencies, producing a comprehensive Pandemic Influenza Preparedness and Response for the department. Cheryl currently serves as a Threat Assessment Consultant for Kaiser Permanente, developing educational programs and managing healthcare delivery improvement projects. This role brings her back to her healthcare roots and is very challenging and gratifying. Cheryl brings a rare blend of creative and operational strengths and a diverse background to her role.
Medical Response & Surge Capacity
Ted Selby
Chief, Healthcare Capacity Section
California Department of Health Services
Email: Tselby@dhs.ca.gov
Ted Selby is Chief of the California Department of Health Services’ (CDHS) Healthcare Capacity Section, which is comprised of the Hospital Preparedness Program, State Planning Unit and the Healthcare Surge Standards and Guidelines Project Team. Prior to accepting appointment to this position, Ted served as CDHS’ Regional Emergency Preparedness Project Officer for California’s Coastal Region, which consists of 16 Counties, and 17 Local Health Departments. Ted began his career with the State of California in November 1993, working in the communications field with the California Highway Patrol (CHP). After several years of employment the merger of the California State Police and CHP occurred. This event opened a door into the planning and project management arena, which Ted promptly pursued. He assumed responsibility for the statewide administration of the Emergency Preparedness, Crime Prevention, and Workplace Violence Prevention programs, which he managed until July 2000. At that point, Ted transferred his employment to the California Department of Mental Health, where he was appointed Health and Safety Officer at Napa State Hospital. His responsibilities included management of the seven areas of the Environment of Care, of which Emergency Preparedness, Occupational Safety, and Fire/Life/Safety were essential components. Ted has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Safety and Health.
Model Practices
Moderator: Judi Freyman
Vice President, Western Occupation Safety and Health Operations
ORC Worldwide
Email: jfreyman@orc-sac.com
Judith S. Freyman joined ORC in 2001 to direct the operations of the Western Occupational Safety and Health Group. She is an attorney with more than 20 years of experience addressing occupational safety and health issues. She identifies health and safety issues of concern to WOSH Group members, initiates contacts with occupational and environmental health state agencies, works with member companies in the regulatory process, and analyzes and comments on proposed regulations.
Judi also develops testimony for presentation to agencies and provides interpretation of existing regulations. In addition, she develops the agenda, selects and secures the speakers, and coordinates the Quarterly Meetings of the WOSH Group and is responsible for member task forces on various safety topics.
Public Health Model: King County Public Health Department
Dennis E. Worsham
Regional Health Officer, Community Based Public Health Practice
Seattle & King County Public Health
Email: dennis.worhsam@metrokc.gov
Dennis has worked in Public Health for nearly 15 years. He currently serves as the Regional Health Officer for Public Health Seattle-King County. Dennis as spent the majority of his career working in the field of Communicable Disease. His work includes individual level, population level and community level interventions. As Regional Health Officer for Public Health Seattle-King County he is working in the area of Community Based Public Health Practice and developing community partnerships to address priorities of Public Health. The Business Community is one area where Public Health is developing key relationship. Dennis chairs the Business Leadership Circle group where the private sector business, government and public health come together to prepare for pandemic flu and other public health issues of interest to business partners and governmental agencies.
Non-governmental Organization Model: BENS Partnerships
Peter Ohtaki
Director, Bay Area Business Force
Business Executives for National Security
Email: POhtaki@bens.org
Peter Ohtaki serves as Director of Business Force operations in the San Francisco Bay Area for Business Executives for National Security (BENS). BENS creates public-private partnerships that improve disaster response and homeland security capabilities at the state and regional level. Currently, BENS partnerships in the Bay Area, Southern California, Georgia, New Jersey, Mid-America and Iowa mobilize private sector support in four general categories: Organized Collaboration, Mass Vaccination/Treatment, Surge Capacity/Supply Chain Management, and Leadership and Strategic Support.
Prior to joining BENS, Mr. Ohtaki was the Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of NetTV, a technology company that provided large-screen digital displays to the education and commercial markets. NetTV was an Inc500 fastest-growing private company in 2003, with over 45,000 units installed in classrooms and conference rooms nationwide. Previously, Mr. Ohtaki worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, and C.E. Unterberg Towbin. Mr. Ohtaki specialized in financing technology companies and advising companies in mergers. At Morgan Stanley, Mr. Ohtaki helped take Cisco Systems public in 1990.
A Bay Area native, Mr. Ohtaki graduated with a B.A. in Economics, magna cum laude, from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. Mr. Ohtaki, his wife, son, and daughter live in Menlo Park, California.
Business Model: Sorrento Valley Consortium
Katie Wiest
Senior Manager
QUALCOMM Incorporated
Email: kwiest@qaulcomm.com
Katie Wiest has worked at QUALCOMM for 9 years with her first 7 years spent managing the Finance IT department. She came to QUALCOMM with over 20 years experience in software development for both private and public companies.
In 2006, Katie moved to the Real Estate and Facilities department to assist Carey Storm with the management of the QUALCOMM Emergency Operations Center. Katie plans exercises for the Command Center, leads the QUALCOMM CERT team and assists the business units in developing their Business Continuity Plans. She is a Certified Business Continuity Planner and a member of the Association of Contingency Planners.
Steven Hauser
Manager, Business Continuity Services
SAIC
Email: steven.r.hauser@saic.com
Steve Hauser, PE, CBCP, CISSP is the Manager of Business Continuity Services at SAIC. He is responsible for developing self-directed business resilience planning and preparation programs for SAIC’s Business Units and Corporate Support Operations. He has previously managed SAIC’s IT Infrastructure Program Management Office, served as the IT Disaster Recovery Manager and Program Manager for Embedded Systems Y2K readiness. He is a California Registered Civil Engineer with a BS in Architectural Engineering from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Prior to joining SAIC he ran his own engineering and land development consulting business providing customers with civil, structural design and construction management services.
Jack Walsh, BSN, PHN, RN
Bioterrorism Coordinator
County of San Diego County
Email: jack.walsh@sdcounty.ca.gov
Jack Walsh is currently employed as Quality Assurance Specialist with County of San Diego. Duties include counter bioterrorism programs; BDS, CRI, SNS, Small Pox, Mass Prophylaxis and Pandemic Influenza planning. Assisted in development of; WRAP Workforce Readiness and Preparedness Program, Mass Care and Shelter training program, Case Investigation and Follow up Program, Point of Distribution training and roll out. Multimedia to include videos for PODs and Isolation chamber set up maintenance and take down. He received his BSN from San Diego State University school of Nursing.
Bay Area Cross-Sector Summit on Pandemic Planning
Gwendolyn Hammer, PhD, MSN, APRN
Pandemic Influenza Consultant
State of California Department of Health Services, Immunization Branch
Email: ghammer@dhs.ca.gov
Dr. Hammer received her Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Vanderbilt University in 1978, her Master’s in Nursing from University of Pennsylvania in 1985, and her PhD in Health Policy and Management from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1997.
She has worked in the public health arena for over 25 years. She started as a registered nurse working in a busy, urban emergency department while at the same time working on pertinent health care needs with coal miners in East Tennessee and Kentucky. She continued her education and became a nurse practitioner, working in underserved areas with the Navajo Indians and inner city populations. She returned to school to work on her PhD with a special interest in policy for health care workers. After finishing her doctoral degree in 1997, she helped design and implement the first vaccine clinical trials for HPV vaccine in the United States. In 1999, she served two years as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Officer with the San Francisco Department of Public Health, Sexually Transmitted Disease Section. During this time period she worked several months in India for WHO as a short-term consultant on polio eradication. Starting in 2002, she spent four years working for the Epidemiology and Prevention Interventions Center at UCSF. She designed and implemented all phases for two NIH funded intervention studies for the HIV positive urban poor. In November 2006, she accepted a job with the California Department of Health Services as a nurse consultant for pandemic influenza. Emergency planning and preparedness has been a life-long interest and she volunteers her services to help with her local Community Emergency Response Teams and the United States Coast Guard Auxiliary. She was one of the key planning members for the Bay Area Summit on Cross-Sector Pandemic Planning.
Day 2
Foster Farms Case Study
Charles Corsiglia DVM, MAM, Dipl. ACPV
Manager of Veterinary Services
Foster Farms
Email: charles.corsiglia@fosterfarms.com
Dr. Corsiglia is the Manager of Veterinary Services for Foster Farms, the largest family owned poultry producer in the West Coast, and owner of a small animal veterinary hospital in the Central Valley. His responsibilities include overseeing the design, implementation, evaluation, and monitoring of poultry preventative health programs, and working on research projects aimed at improving poultry health and husbandry for chickens and turkeys raised by Foster Farms in five states. He received his Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine from Auburn University, his Masters of Avian Medicine from University of Georgia, and is a diplomat of the American College of Poultry Veterinarians. He held similar positions at Plantation Foods and Cargill Turkey Products in Texas before returning to his native California.
Operation: Bird in Flight
Cindy Lambdin, RN, MS
Director, Readiness Operations Planning & Exercises
Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness
University of California, Berkeley
Email: clambdin@berkeley.edu
Cindy Lambdin, RN, MS is the Emergency Operations Specialist for UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. Cindy is a graduate of UC San Francisco and received her Master's as an Emergency/Trauma Clinical Nurse Specialist with a Minor in Education. She has worked in the acute hospital setting for twenty-one years. Cindy brings thirteen years of Emergency Management and Education experience to the CIDER team. Her skills include knowledge and expertise of the Incident Command System, Exercise design, execution, and evaluation, and Emergency Management Plan development. Cindy has worked collaboratively with city, county and state agencies and organizations to promote disaster preparedness. She serves as a member of the Alameda County Bioterrorism Steering Committee, Alameda County Bioterrorism Task Force, and Alameda County Emergency Management Association.
Diana Pak, BA
Public Administrative Analyst
Readiness Operations Planning & Exercises
Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness
University of California, Berkeley
Email: dianapak@berkeley.edu
Diana Pak is the Research Associate for the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. She is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in Political Economy of Industrial Societies with a concentration in Urban Development and Planning. Having lived in several countries, and having had experience working as a three-language translator/interpreter, Diana contributes her knowledge of cultural issues to the context of disaster preparedness planning in the diverse Bay Area. She is currently part of the ROPE Team.
Ground Zero for the Pandemic: The Airport
Moderator: André Berro, MPH
Quarantine Public Health Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention / Division of Global Migration and Quarantine / San Francisco Quarantine Station
Email: aberro@cdc.gov
Andre Berro is a Quarantine Public Health Officer with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Andre has a four-year experience working at the CDC Quarantine Stations in San Francisco, Minneapolis , and Chicago . He has successfully worked and is still working on multiple projects and critical tasks to help limit the morbidity and mortality among mobile populations entering the United States and to help limit the spread of communicable diseases of public health concern. Andre holds a Master of Public Health in International Health from the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor.
William P. Wilkinson, AAE, CPM, CHS-IV
Manager, Emergency Operations Manager
San Francisco International Airport
Email: willian.wilkinson@flysfo.com
William Wilkinson is currently responsible for compliance with Federal Aviation Regulation 139 at San Francisco International Airport for emergency operations, planning, training and other actions regarding mitigation of emergencies.
Twenty-five years experience in various operating departments at two west coast Class I, Category X international airports and a full career in the military as a commissioned officer in combat service support branches.
Possesses academic degrees including a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Management and a Masters in International Business; also professional distinctions including being an Accredited Airport Executive, Certified Professional Manager and Certification in Homeland Security at level IV.
Two of his current emphasis items at SFO include promoting doctrinal compliance with NIMS and regional interoperable communications in both raw technology and systems management.
Linda Christopherson
Occupational Safety and Health Manager
US Airways
Email: Linda.christopherson@usairways.com
Trained in the environmental technology and pollution prevention field, Linda Christopherson is currently a 6-year employee in the airline industry serving as the Occupational Safety and Health Manager for US Airways. The previous 10 years were spent as a Compliance and training officer for Arizona OSHA, serving in both Industrial Hygiene and Safety disciplines. She has served in the emergency response community as an advisor to the State Emergency Response Commission and has served her community as the board chair of the Northwest Fire District in Tucson Arizona.
Currently airline responsibilities involved the management of OSHA employee health and safety programs ranging from chemical safety and respiratory protection to fall protection, with a focus on injury and accident prevention. A recent implemented program addresses “Communicable Disease” exposures from inbound illnesses and first aid events, serving also as the numerous work place settings have been inspected for compliance to OSHA’s rules while championing the development for robust safety cultures that will reduces risks and control workers compensation costs in many business settings.
Dennis W. Korpman, MD, MPH
Medical Director Pacific
United Airlines
Email: dennis.korpman@united.com
Dr. Korpman is the Medical Director—Pacific for United Airlines. He is board certified in both Occupational and Family Medicine and is a Fellow of the American Board of Preventive Medicine as well as the American Academy of Family Practice. He is also an aviation medical examiner. He serves as a consultant to the Department of Labor on toxic and radiological exposures for Department of Energy retired employees. He is a graduate of Loma Linda University School of Medicine, received a Master Degree in Public Health from Medical College of Wisconsin, and completed his residency at University of South Florida.
Concurrent Sessions: Business Continuity
John Dalisky, M.A., CBCP
Senior Manager, Global BC/DR
Symantec, Inc
Email: john_dalisky@symantec.com
John Dalisky has more than 20 years of experience in the field of business continuity planning, disaster response, and recovery. He presently works at Symantec as a senior manager in the global BC/DR team.
John’s disaster operations experience includes over 25 IT/business recoveries caused by earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, terrorism and facility failures, and oversight of literally thousands of tests.
Key past experience includes the BCM Practice Lead for Symantec in the Americas, Vice President at Comdisco/SunGard Planning Solutions managing hot-sites for half of the US and all of Canada, and Vice President for First Interstate Bank production computer operations and their internal DR solution.
John is certified in ITIL Foundations and as a DRII Certified Business Continuity Professional.
Lisa Trousdale
Associate Director, Emergency Planning and Business Continuity
Ernst & Young LLP
Email: lisa.trousdale@ey.com
Lisa Trousdale is Associate Director in Ernst & Young’s LLP’s Office of Firm Security, where she is responsible for the development, implementation and testing of E&Y’s emergency response and business continuity plans. She has over 15 years of experience and specializes in risk evaluation, business continuity, emergency management, crisis communication and incident response planning. Her activities include many initiatives to enhance the preparedness and safety of E&Y’s people worldwide and she heads the E&Y Avian Flu Task Force. Formerly, Ms. Trousdale was a consultant with E&Y’s Security & Technology Solutions Group. Prior to that, she worked for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in disaster response. Ms. Trousdale holds a Master Business Continuity Planner (MBCP) certification from DRII and is a Fellow of the U.K.-based Business Continuity Institute. She has an MBA from Thunderbird and Bachelor’s degrees in International Relation and German.
Tonya T. York, CBCP
Director, Business Continuity Practice
EVault Corporation, a Seagate Company
Email: tonya.york@EVault.com
Tonya T. York is Business Continuity Management Practice Director for EVault Professional Services. She is a Certified Business Continuity Professional with 20 years of senior-level experience. As Senior Consultant at Symantec/VERITAS, Tonya was responsible for creation, sales, and delivery of business continuity services to Fortune 500 customers. Prior to joining Symantec, Tonya was Vice President of Client Services for Caspian Group, a boutique IT consulting firm. As Vice President of Business Resumption Services at Charles Schwab, Tonya had full accountability for ensuring the uninterrupted functioning of mission-critical world wide operations for the $872 billion brokerage firm. During her tenure at Schwab, Tonya designed and activated the business continuity program that protected 300,000 revenue trades per day during 8 actual business interruptions. Prior to Schwab, Tonya was Senior Manager of North America Customer Service for Comdisco Continuity Services where she was responsible for customer satisfaction, problem solving, and customer support. While at Comdisco, Tonya supported customers through hundreds of tests and actual disaster declarations. Tonya’s career in Business Continuity started at US Bank as Assistant Vice President of Contingency Planning where she was responsible for the IT business continuity program. Tonya is a founding member of the Business Recovery Managers Association in San Francisco Bay Area. Tonya is a graduate of Oregon State University.
Erik Stewart
Supply Chain Risk Program Manager / Manufacturing Crisis Manager
Cisco Systems, Inc.
Email: erstewar@cisco.com
Erik Stewart is the manufacturing Crisis Manager and a member of the Supply Chain Risk Management team in the Advanced Sourcing department at Cisco Systems, Inc. in San Jose, CA. Erik initiated and manages the global Pandemic Planning program for Cisco’s Manufacturing Operations and Supply Chain. In his role as Crisis Manager Erik is responsible for establishing the supply chain crisis response program and for tactical execution during a crisis. As Supply Chain Risk Program Manager, Erik is also responsible for advancing the techniques and skills in the modeling and analysis of supply chain risk. In this role Erik supports quantifying Cisco’s risk levels and supports decisions on how to best allocate resources to mitigate these risks.
Erik has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis, a MS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a MS degree in management from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Erik lives in San Mateo, CA with his wife and son.
Oscar Granger
Safety Consultant – Specialist
Verizon Wireless
Email: oscar.granger@verizonwireless.com
Since 1989, Oscar Granger has worked for Verizon Wireless, managing the Corporate Safety, Occupational Health, and Worker’s Compensation Programs for all markets in the Western United States. He has been involved in Disaster Recovery Planning since the late 1970’s and worked with FEMA developing prototype recovery plans for local and state government agencies. Oscar Granger was certified a Disaster Recovery Planner by the Disaster Recovery Institute in June of 1995, #1508. Currently he is also working internally with Verizon Wireless business continuity planners to develop the Corporations disaster response plans, emphasizing its response to a Pandemic Influenza. Granger is a graduate of San Francisco State (College) University with a BA in Geography, plus 2 years of graduate studies.
Day 3
Operation: Bird in Flight
Cindy Lambdin, RN, MS
Director, Readiness Operations Planning & Exercises
Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness
University of California, Berkeley
Email: clambdin@berkeley.edu
Cindy Lambdin, RN, MS is the Emergency Operations Specialist for UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. Cindy is a graduate of UC San Francisco and received her Master's as an Emergency/Trauma Clinical Nurse Specialist with a Minor in Education. She has worked in the acute hospital setting for twenty-one years. Cindy brings thirteen years of Emergency Management and Education experience to the CIDER team. Her skills include knowledge and expertise of the Incident Command System, Exercise design, execution, and evaluation, and Emergency Management Plan development. Cindy has worked collaboratively with city, county and state agencies and organizations to promote disaster preparedness. She serves as a member of the Alameda County Bioterrorism Steering Committee, Alameda County Bioterrorism Task Force, and Alameda County Emergency Management Association.
Diana Pak, BA
Public Administrative Analyst
Readiness Operations Planning & Exercises
Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness
University of California, Berkeley
Email: dianapak@berkeley.edu
Diana Pak is the Research Associate for the UC Berkeley Center for Infectious Disease & Emergency Readiness. She is a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, where she majored in Political Economy of Industrial Societies with a concentration in Urban Development and Planning. Having lived in several countries, and having had experience working as a three-language translator/interpreter, Diana contributes her knowledge of cultural issues to the context of disaster preparedness planning in the diverse Bay Area. She is currently part of the ROPE Team.
State Insurance Issues
Kathleen Harriman, PhD, MPH, RN
Nurse Consultant III
California Department of Health Services
Email: kharrima@dhs.ca.gov
Kathy Harriman has worked in the healthcare and public health fields for over 30 years as a pediatric emergency room nurse, a hospital infection control practitioner, and as an infectious disease epidemiologist. Kathy has worked at the Minnesota Department of Health for the past 15 years and supervises the Infection Control Unit in the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section. Kathy assisted WHO in writing the avian influenza infection control guideline for healthcare facilities and the soon to be released WHO guideline on infection control for acute respiratory diseases, including pandemic influenza. She is currently on leave from the Minnesota Department of Health and is working on pandemic planning at the California Department of Health Services. Kathy is a registered nurse with an MPH in epidemiology from the University of Sydney and a PhD in environmental infectious disease from the University of Minnesota.
Preparing the Workforce for a Pandemic
Deborah Gold
Senior Safety Engineer
CAL/OSHA
Email: dgold@dir.ca.gov
Deborah Gold is a Senior Safety Engineer with the Cal/OSHA Research and Standards Health Unit. She is currently working on developing a Cal/OSHA regulation to apply to aerosol transmissible diseases, and is a coordinator of the avian and pandemic flu preparedness at Cal/OSHA. She is a certified industrial hygienist and has an MPH degree from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jim Lane, SEIU
Program Manager
SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and Joint Employer Education Fund
Email: jlane@seiu-uhweduc.org
Jim Lane is the Program Manager of the SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and Joint Employer Education Fund and oversees the SEIU HazMat Training Project on the west coast. Since 1999, Jim has been a Union Representative and Training Coordinator with the SEIU HazMat Training Project. From 1992 to 1999, Jim worked as a Phlebotomist/Clinical Laboratory Assistant II at Kaiser Permanente in San Jose, CA.
Workforce Preparedness in Action
Michael Lewandowski
Manager, Ionizing Radiation
3M Corporate Health Physics, 3M Medical Department
Email: malewandowski@mmm.com
Mike Lewandowski joined 3M as a health physicist in 1997 supporting 3M’s use of radiation and radioactive materials in manufacturing environments. As part of a career of increasing responsibilities, Mike was selected to become a Six Sigma Black Belt in 2005. As a Black Belt, Mike worked extensively with 3M’s Occupational Medicine organization leading process development and improvement teams. One team Mike was involved with developed 3M’s response to the avian influenza threat. At the end of 2007 Mike returned to 3M’s corporate radiation safety organization and is currently a board-certified health physicist responsible for managing the use of radiation and radioactive materials within 3M’s manufacturing operations.