U-of-L to Lead Pandemic Response Research

by Stephanie CrosbyThe Department of Homeland Security has given the University of Louisville a $3.3-million dollar grant to fund research for pandemic attack response. A team of researchers will now conduct a project to develop software that would coordinate response to the attack at area hospitals and health care facilities.Lead researcher Sunderesh Heragu says in the case of a pandemic attack, all facilities ranging from hospitals to doctor’s offices to urgent treatment centers will be needed to treat the public – and they all have very different operating systems.“So the challenge for us is to be able to get the data that we need and be able to dial up a system that will interface with the existing systems these hospitals have so that they could use it seamlessly, even in an emergency," says Heragu.About twenty researchers will collaborate on the project, ranging from engineering professors to public health experts.Heragu says their final product could be used by cities throughout the country to coordinate emergency response.