Growing Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness

A Growing Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness Will Result in More Career Opportunities for Corps Officers Site

The Office of Public Health Emergency Preparedness (OPHEP) is expanding to meet the challenges posed by potential and actual natural or man-made disasters. OPHEP serves as the Secretary's principal advisory staff on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. OPHEP also coordinates interagency activities between the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), other Federal departments, agencies, offices, and State and local officials responsible for emergency preparedness and the protection of the civilian population from acts of bioterrorism and other public health emergencies.

OPHEP consists of the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness (ASPHEP), the Office of Public Health Emergency Medical Countermeasures (OPHEMC), the Office of Preparedness and Response Operations (OPEO), the Office of Medicine, Science and Public Health (OMSPH), and the Office of Policy and Strategic Planning (OPSP). The Immediate Office provides executive and administrative direction to all OPHEP components while the ASPHEP, RADM W. Craig Vanderwagen, also serves as the principal advisor to the Secretary for bioterrorism and other health emergencies.

The OPHEMC coordinates the Public Health Medical Countermeasures Enterprise. This includes defining and prioritizing requirements for medical emergency countermeasures, coordinating research, product development and procurement activities, and setting deployment and use strategies for medical countermeasures held in the Strategic National Stockpile. Opportunities will continue to exist in this office for officers of the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps) with a product development, research, and/or program management background.

The OPEO develops policies and plans to ensure the readiness of OPHEP, HHS, and the Federal Government to respond to public health threats and emergencies. OPEO’s responsibilities include the conduct of exercises to ensure preparedness, management of the Secretary’s Operations Center, leadership of HHS activities for Emergency Support Function #8 of the National Response Plan, integration of mass casualty preparedness efforts, and management of the HHS Continuity of Operations and Continuity of Government programs. As a result of lessons learned from the unprecedented response to the devastating hurricanes of 2005, OPEO will be adding positions as funding becomes available in FY 2007. These positions will be in the areas of response operations, planning, logistics, and administration/finance and will present challenging and rewarding assignment opportunities for motivated Corps officers.

The OMSPH provides leadership and direction on medical preparedness activities for OPHEP. It is the focal point for international activities and it coordinates OPHEP’s pandemic flu effort with HHS agencies, the State Department, the Department of Agriculture, and the World Health Organization. OMSPH also establishes bilateral and multinational partnerships to develop surveillance capability and provides HHS leadership in the Global Health Security Action Group. There currently are vacancies in this office for Corps officers with a medical or scientific background.

The OPSP is OPHEP’s newest division. It is responsible for policy formulation, analysis, coordination, and evaluation, and develops OPHEP’s short and long-term strategic objectives. Additionally, OPSP serves as the focal point for Homeland Security Council/National Security Council policy coordination activities.

As new positions in OPHEP are approved or vacancies are created, they will be posted in the Commissioned Corps Job Vacancies Database at http://dcp.psc.gov (click on ‘Jobs’). Please sign-up for the vacancy listserv at http://dcp.psc.gov/v_maillist.asp so you can be aware of all the exciting and challenging opportunities OPHEP has to offer.

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