%20(1).png)
Turning Chaos into Calm: Lessons from TidalHealth's Emergency Management Program Transformation
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 10:55 - 11:45am
A year ago, TidalHealth's emergency response relied on the skill, dedication, and adaptability of its people rather than a formal, shared structure. Today, the organization operates a fully structured Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) program that has been activated 20 times in the past year alone. This session takes attendees inside that transformation. Learn how an organizational assessment became the case for change, how executive stakeholders were engaged and trained in HICS roles from the C-suite down, and how a structured response program was built and then tested against severe weather, cybersecurity incidents, and patient surge events. Drawing on real activation data and hard-won lessons, the presenter shares a practical, replicable framework spanning training and education, communications, stakeholder coordination, organizational assessment, leadership, program management, and response operations — plus three takeaways healthcare emergency preparedness leaders can put to work in their own organizations right away.
Charles L. Dolan Jr., PhD (c), DHSc, MBA, MS, CPHRM, CPHQ, PHR, NRP, FP-C, CCP-C, FRSPH, FACHE
Vice President, Clinical Operations and Chief Safety Officer, TidalHealth
Andrew Wile
Life Safety and Emergency Management Manager, TidalHealth
Charles L. Dolan Jr., PhD (c), DHSc, MBA, MS, CPHRM, CPHQ, PHR, NRP, FP-C, CCP-C, FRSPH, FACHE
Charles Dolan is System Vice President of Clinical Operations and Chief Safety Officer at TidalHealth Health System, where he leads laboratory medicine, pharmacy, radiology, ambulatory surgery, public safety, emergency management, and life safety operations across a three-hospital system on Maryland's Eastern Shore. His career began on the front lines more than three decades ago as a paramedic and critical care flight medic, and he has spent much of that career training the next generation as a fire service and paramedic instructor, including he is an Associate Professor of Business and Health Professions at Wilmington University. He currently serves on Maryland's State Hospital Board by gubernatorial appointment and is a Fellow of the American College of Healthcare Executives. A frequent national presenter and published author on emergency care, paramedicine, and healthcare operations, Charles brings a rare vantage point that spans the ambulance bay, the hospital boardroom, and the classroom.
Andrew Wile
Andrew Wile is Life Safety and Emergency Management Manager at TidalHealth, where he leads safety and emergency management across a multi-state, three-hospital health system spanning Maryland and Delaware. His career began in 1992 as a paramedic with Sussex County Emergency Medical Services in Delaware, where he served for 26 years, rising to Paramedic District Supervisor while concurrently leading emergency management for Nanticoke Health Services. He went on to support state and local governments as an emergency preparedness consultant, including helping build a statewide Crisis Response to Opioids framework, before returning to healthcare emergency management leadership at University of Maryland Shore Regional Health and now at TidalHealth.
Beyond Compliance: Designing Healthcare Exercises That Drive Real Improvement
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 10:55 - 11:45am
Exercises should do more than satisfy requirements. We will explore how to design healthcare exercises that build capabilities, uncover meaningful gaps, and create lasting improvements in preparedness. Through practical examples and lessons learned, attendees will gain tools to make every exercise count when it matters most.
Chris Reeves
Emergency Management Coordinator, Regional One Health and Mid-South Emergency Planning Coalition
Chris Reeves is the Emergency Management Coordinator for Regional One Health in Memphis, home to the Elvis Presley Trauma Center, the Firefighters Burn Center, and Memphis MedCom. His career began in fire and EMS services before advancing into healthcare operations, public health emergency preparedness, and healthcare coalition leadership. He previously served as Regional Healthcare Coordinator with the Tennessee Department of Health and currently serves as Secretary of the Mid-South Emergency Planning Coalition Executive Board.
Health Effects from Radiation Exposure: Are We Better Prepared to Respond?
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 10:55 - 11:45am
Different radiation incidents have a lot in common. They leave both physical and emotional scars. Drawing on lessons from past radiation incidents, this session focuses on the acute and late health effects of radiation exposure in humans, including how to identify, diagnose, and treat them. Attendees will look at the radiation risks U.S. hospitals are most likely to face, from accidents during the transport of radioactive materials to exposures to radiation in healthcare settings, along with the rarer possibility of an intentional radiological attack. The session also touches on the new kind of threat that emerged when the area around a nuclear power plant in Ukraine became a war zone. Finally, it separates myth from reality, including the false belief that radiation victims are contagious, which hurt many families with children evacuated from contaminated zones.
Alla Shapiro, MD, PhD
Consultant and Advisory Board Member, Research Discovery Innovation (RDI)
Alla Shapiro, M.D., Ph.D. Emeritus Member of the Radiation Research Society.
Alla was trained as a pediatric hematologist in Kiev, Ukraine. She was one of the first physician responders to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. She headed a field team surveying the medical effects on children in the Chernobyl vicinity.
Dr. Shapiro completed recertification and relicensing in the United States. She completed a pediatric residency program at Georgetown University Hospital. She then continued a pediatric hematology-oncology fellowship at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Maryland. She served as a Medical Officer in the Division of Oncology Drug Products Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration from 2000-2003.
From 2003 to 2019 Dr. Shapiro served as a Medical Officer as a member of the Counter-Terrorism and Emergency Coordination Staff, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), US Food and Drug Administration. She retired from the FDA in 2019.
Currently, Dr. Shapiro works as a Consultant and Advisory Board member for the pharmaceutical company Research Discovery Innovation (RDI). RDI is s private pharmaceutical company operating in Denmark, the USA, and Norway. With dedicated focus on cancer and radiation, RDI has developed a diverse portfolio of drug candidates in fields such as medical oncology, medical radiation protection, and mitigating the adverse effects of chemotherapy.
Dr. Shapiro was recently appointed as a member of the Advisory Board for the PULSE project (https://pulse-eic.eu). The PULSE is a European Union-funded project that aims to revolutionize the field of bioprinting and its application in space and on Earth. This project is run by 6 organizations from 6 European countries.
RDI will be testing their innovative drug, radio mitigator BP-C2, in hearts that will be printed with the PULSE 3D Bioprinter on Earth and eventually onboard the International Space Station. In the big picture, there is a hope that BP-C2 will protect the heart of astronauts against radiation in space and might be used in patients with cardiovascular diseases on earth.
Dr. Shapiro participated in multiple interviews with International Documentary Companies that produced movies dedicated to the 40th Chernobyl Anniversary.
She is the author of a memoir entitled “Doctor On Call: Chernobyl responder, Jewish Refugee, Radiation expert”
Health System Capacity Management and Emergency Preparedness: Collaboration & Partnership to Navigate Extreme Challenges
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 10:55 - 11:45am
This presentation will describe how Mass General Brigham has built a more coordinated and resilient enterprise approach to hospital capacity management during crises by shifting from fragmented hospital-level operations to an integrated system-wide model. We will highlight the key interventions that made this possible, including the development of standardized cross-hospital command structures, creation of the Patient Transfer & Access Center (PTAC) to streamline transfers and optimize site of care, implementation of a unified capacity tiering framework, and tighter integration of emergency preparedness with routine capacity operations through a dedicated Capacity Liaison Team. Together, these efforts have improved patient flow, strengthened operational visibility, accelerated incident response, and better aligned emergency management with day-to-day capacity demands across the system. We will also discuss the persistent challenges that remain, including chronic overcrowding, ongoing throughput barriers, and the difficulty of sustaining preparedness outside of acute crises. A major focus of the presentation will be the “grey zone” between strained normal operations and formal emergency activation, which continues to challenge health system leaders. Finally, we will outline key priorities for the next phase of this work, including the use of predictive analytics and AI to anticipate capacity strain, stronger post-acute and community partnerships, refinement of operational tiering strategies, and deeper integration of capacity.
Kyan Safavi, MD, MBA
Associate Chief Medical Officer, Mass General Brigham
Paul Biddinger, MD, FACEP
Chief Preparedness & Continuity Officer, Mass General Brigham
Kyan Safavi, MD, MBA
Titles: Associate Chief Medical Officer, Mass General Brigham; Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
Kyan is a faculty member of the Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine (DACCPM) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Associate Chief Medical Officer for Mass General Brigham health system in Massachusetts. Kyan has held a wide array of responsibilities in the MGB system, including the design and implementation of the MGB Patient Transfer & Access Center, MGB’s capacity management efforts, and lead of the systemwide length of stay reduction program. These efforts included the development of system-wide and regional partnerships to help address safe patient access to care. As Director of the Electronic Safety Net, a program supported by the Department of Anesthesia to design, build and operationalize applications that leverage electronic data to improve quality and safety at the bedside. From 2020-2022, Kyan was the MGH Medical Director of Healthcare Systems Engineering, a team that uses data analytics and modeling to generate insights and solutions to enable the hospital to utilize its most high-value assets more efficiently. Kyan served as co-lead of the MGH’s planning section for the COVID Emergency Response and supported surge response efforts at MGH and across the MGB system.
His clinical duties include ICU and PACU anesthesiology. He completed anesthesia residency and critical care fellowship at MGH. From 2018-2020 he was the Mass General Physicians Organization Healthcare Policy and Management Fellow. He previously received his undergraduate, MD, and MBA degrees from Yale University.
Paul Biddinger, MD, FACEP
Dr. Paul Biddinger is the Chief Preparedness and Continuity Officer at Mass General Brigham (MGB) and the Chief of the Division of Emergency Preparedness in the Department of Emergency Medicine at MGB. He holds the Ann L. Prestipino MPH Endowed Chair in Emergency Preparedness and is also the Director of the Center for Disaster Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). Dr. Biddinger additionally serves as the Director of the Emergency Preparedness Research, Evaluation and Practice (EPREP) Program at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health and holds appointments at Harvard Medical School and at the Chan School. Dr. Biddinger serves as a medical officer for the MA-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team (DMAT) in the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) in the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Dr. Biddinger is an active researcher in the field of emergency preparedness and has lectured nationally and internationally on topics of preparedness and disaster medicine. He has authored numerous articles and book chapters on multiple topics related to disaster medicine and emergency medical operations and has responded to numerous prior disaster events, including Hurricane Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombings, the Nepal earthquakes, and many others.
He completed his undergraduate study in international relations at Princeton University, attended medical school at Vanderbilt University, and completed residency training in emergency medicine at Harvard.
What's New in Healthcare Preparedness: Practical Resources from ASPR TRACIE
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 1:15 - 1:45pm
At the 2026 AHEPP Conference, ASPR TRACIE introduced Hospital Readiness and Response: An Online Guidebook, a practical resource to help new hospital emergency managers work through the real-world challenges of preparedness, response, and recovery. Developed with input from AHEPP members and other subject matter experts, the Guidebook offers operational information tailored to the hospital setting. The session was well received, and audience feedback included ideas for future chapters. This Quick Hit session serves as a follow-up to that presentation by highlighting newly released chapters and providing an update on other new ASPR TRACIE resources relevant to AHEPP members. Presenters will share key takeaways from these resources, including emerging topics and operational considerations that support hospital readiness, incident response, and recovery efforts. Attendees will also learn how to incorporate these practical tools and resources that align with AHEPP Professional Standards and into existing healthcare emergency management programs.
Rachel Lehman
Acting Director, HHS ASPR TRACIE
Rachel Lehman is the Acting Director of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response’s (ASPR) Technical Resources, Assistance Center, and Information Exchange (TRACIE) Program. ASPR TRACIE is a healthcare emergency preparedness information gateway that serves the informational and technical assistance needs of those working in disaster medicine and health care preparedness. In her role as Acting Director, she oversees the day-to-day operations of program, provides guidance on emerging issues and gaps/challenges, and acts as a liaison for the program. Previously Rachel was an analyst in ASPRs Office of Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Protection where she held multiple roles including leading communications, helping manage the Healthcare and Public Health Sector Partnership, and working on all-hazards risk assessment for healthcare facilities. Prior to joining ASPR, she supported the U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies Office of Research and Development working on chemical risk assessment.
Smarter, Not Harder: Practical AI for Healthcare Emergency Managers
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 1:15 - 1:45pm
Healthcare emergency managers are expected to demonstrate program effectiveness while managing an ever-growing list of regulatory requirements, exercises, training, and response activities. At the same time, many programs are collecting more data than ever before but struggle to transform that information into meaningful insights that support decision-making and communicate value to leadership. This Quick Hit session shares practical, real-world ways artificial intelligence (AI) can help reduce that administrative burden. Through case studies from our hospital emergency management program, attendees will see how AI has been used to build dashboards, automate plan reviews, synthesize downtime drill and exercise data, and transform unstructured notes into actionable after-action reports and improvement plans. These examples demonstrate how AI can accelerate learning, summarize meeting notes, analyze raw datasets, create formulas for dashboards, identify meaningful metrics, and support workflow automation, freeing up more time for preparedness activities that require human expertise. Participants will leave with practical ideas they can immediately apply in their own organizations, along with the Emergency Management AI Starter Toolkit, a curated collection of ready-to-use prompts, workflow examples, and guidance for responsible AI use, including privacy considerations, validation of AI-generated content, and protecting sensitive information.
Asha Salah, MPH
Program Coordinator, Emergency Management, Boston Children's Hospital
Asha Salah, MPH, is an Emergency Management Program Coordinator at Boston Children's Hospital with a background in public health, emergency preparedness, and program evaluation. She helps strengthen the hospital's emergency preparedness program through training, exercises, and evaluation, using data to identify opportunities for continuous improvement. Over the past five years, she has contributed to initiatives that enhance preparedness, response, and organizational resilience across the healthcare setting while supporting the department's evaluation and analytics efforts.
Asha develops and delivers emergency preparedness education, leads and facilitates tabletop exercises and after-action debriefs, and presents emergency management initiatives, preparedness metrics, and program updates to hospital leadership and executive stakeholders. She also facilitates Hazard Vulnerability Assessment (HVA) meetings and represents Boston Children's Hospital Emergency Management in collaborative planning efforts with healthcare partners across the Longwood Medical Area and region.
Before joining the Emergency Management team, Asha worked as a Patient Experience Representative at Boston Children's Hospital while earning her Master of Public Health from the Boston University School of Public Health, where she concentrated in Global Health Program Design, Monitoring, and Evaluation. During graduate school, she participated in international public health program design projects that strengthened her interest in using evidence-based approaches to improve health systems and support resilient communities.
Asha's professional interests include healthcare emergency preparedness, emergency management training and exercises, program evaluation, and applying monitoring and evaluation frameworks to strengthen organizational resilience and emergency response capabilities. She is passionate about using data, evaluation, and collaborative planning to help healthcare organizations build stronger, more effective emergency preparedness programs.
Building a Plane in Flight: Developing an Emergency Management Program During FIFA World Cup 2026
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 1:15 - 1:45pm
As one of the largest sporting events in the world, FIFA World Cup 2026 presented unprecedented planning and response challenges for healthcare organizations across host regions. This presentation explores the unique experience of building and maturing a healthcare emergency management program while simultaneously preparing for and supporting operations during a global special event. Attendees will gain insight into the strategic planning processes, stakeholder coordination efforts, situational awareness capabilities, and operational response structures developed to support World Cup activities. Presenters will discuss lessons learned from balancing long-term program development with immediate operational demands, including resource constraints, executive engagement, cross-functional collaboration, and sustaining readiness across a complex healthcare system. This session offers practical takeaways for emergency managers tasked with growing organizational capabilities while responding to large-scale events, demonstrating how major incidents can serve as catalysts for program advancement and organizational resilience.
Lorrie Elizarraraz, CHEP, CHSP, CHFM
System Emergency Management Manager, Texas Health Resources
Georgia White, CHEP
System Emergency Management Specialist, Texas Health Resources
Lorrie Elizarraraz, CHEP, CHSP, CHFM
Lorrie Elizarraraz brings over three decades of dedicated experience in safety and emergency management, including 27 years focused on the healthcare physical environment. She currently serves as the Emergency Management Manager for Texas Health Resources, having previously held the role of Safety Officer and Emergency Management Program Coordinator (EMPC) at Texas Health Frisco since its opening in 2019.
In addition to her civilian career, Lorrie served in the United States Air Force for 29 years as a traditional reservist. She recently retired at the rank of Chief Master Sergeant to a Cybersecurity Squadron, where she contributed her leadership and expertise in national defense.
Lorrie holds two degrees in Emergency Management from the University of North Texas, underscoring her commitment to professional development and excellence in the field.
Georgia White, CHEP
Georgia White is a System Emergency Management Specialist with Texas Health Resources, where she supports emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and continuity efforts across one of the nation’s largest faith-based health systems. She specializes in healthcare emergency management, incident command, exercise design, special event planning, and regional coordination with public safety and healthcare partners.
Georgia earned a Bachelor of Science in Emergency Administration and Disaster Planning with a minor in Public Administration from the University of North Texas and is currently pursuing a Master of Science in Emergency Management and Disaster Science.
Throughout her career, Georgia has supported emergency operations, healthcare preparedness initiatives, disaster exercises, hospital incident command activations, and regional planning efforts for large-scale events, including the FIFA World Cup 2026. She is passionate about strengthening healthcare resilience through collaboration, planning, and continuous improvement.
The Future of Education – An Update
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 1:15 - 1:45pm
In this quick hit session, we will discuss the ongoing progress one Michigan Healthcare Coalition has made using LMS and AI generated videos to present educational material.
Luke Aurner, MS-ERRM, CCEMT-P I/C, Mi-PEM, HcEM-M
Regional Coordinator, Michigan Region 6 Healthcare Coalition
Luke Aurner serves as Coordinator of the Michigan Region 6 Healthcare Coalition, supporting healthcare preparedness, emergency response, and regional resilience across 13 counties in West Michigan. A critical care paramedic with more than 25 years of experience, he holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Emergency Response and Crisis Management. Luke is also an experienced emergency management educator, teaching incident command, healthcare emergency management, advanced life support, and disaster response courses.
From Paper to Practice: Designing and Executing a Healthcare Downtime Functional Exercise
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
Healthcare organizations increasingly rely on technology to support patient care, making downtime preparedness a critical component of organizational resilience. While many organizations maintain downtime plans, fewer have tested them through realistic functional exercises that validate decision-making, communication, and operational continuity. In this interactive workshop, participants will learn a practical methodology for planning, facilitating, and evaluating a healthcare downtime functional exercise. Using real-world examples and reusable templates, attendees will work through exercise design, scenario development, facilitation techniques, evaluation strategies, and post-exercise improvement planning. Participants will leave with tools and templates that can be adapted to strengthen downtime preparedness within their own organizations.
Angela Cone, MBA, CHPCP, CCRP, CRMP
Manager, Institutional Resilience, UT MD Anderson
Angela Cone is an experienced healthcare leader and Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional, Certified Risk Management Professional, and Certified Cyber Resilience Professional with a strong background in clinical operations, business continuity, and emergency preparedness. She currently serves as the manager of Institutional Resilience at UT MD Anderson, where she supports patient safety and continuity of care through the development, coordination, and execution of emergency response strategies across the institution.
Angela’s work spans utility and IT downtime planning, infrastructure risk mitigation, and functional exercises for clinical operations. She has played a key role in institutional responses to major events such as COVID-19 and extreme weather emergencies, often leading virtual command centers and cross-functional planning teams. Her career includes leadership roles in hospital operations, overnight clinical services, and graduate medical education, where she has driven process improvement, interdepartmental collaboration, and staff development.
Angela holds a Master of Business Administration from Texas Woman’s University and a Bachelor of Science from The University of Texas at Austin. She is trained in Clinical Safety & Effectiveness and is a Six Sigma Yellow Belt, as well as nationally certified in continuity planning for healthcare systems. She has been a featured speaker at national conferences including AHEPP, the Preparedness Summit, and The Joint Commission Resources Emergency Preparedness Conference. With a practical, operations-driven mindset and a passion for readiness, Angela brings over 18 years of experience in aligning emergency preparedness with patient care excellence in high-pressure healthcare environments.
Verenice Valencia, MIE
Institutional Resilience Specialist
Verenice Valencia is an Institutional Resilience Specialist and a healthcare systems engineer with over seven years of experience leading process improvement initiatives. Her work has spanned a diverse range of projects, including developing prolonged downtime and recovery plans, developing functional downtime exercises and supporting enterprise-wide initiatives such as regulatory action planning. She is passionate about leveraging Lean Six Sigma principles and cross-functional collaboration to improve healthcare operations resilience.
Cherie Plouff, DMSc, MPAS, CHPCP, CCRP, CRMP, CPHQ, PA-C
Business Continuity Officer, UT MD Anderson
Cherie Plouff is the Business Continuity Officer at MD Anderson Cancer Center, where she leads system-wide efforts to strengthen clinical and operational resilience during both planned and unplanned disruptions. Cherie has served in a variety of leadership roles within the institution and as a clinical provider across multiple oncology specialties. With over a decade of experience as a practicing physician assistant and leader, Cherie brings a unique clinical lens to business continuity planning, emphasizing patient safety, continuity of care, and provider workflows during emergency events.
She holds a Doctor of Medical Science degree in Healthcare Administration and Management and a Master of Physician Assistant Studies. She is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Quality (CPHQ), Certified Cyber Resilience Professional (CCRP), Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP), and Certified Risk Management Professional (CRMP). Her work has been recognized with numerous awards internally at MD Anderson and at national conferences.
Cherie frequently presents on continuity planning and provider resilience, and has authored and co-authored a range of publications on quality improvement, patient safety, and clinical operations. Her strategic focus is on embedding preparedness into routine operations and building a culture of readiness across all levels of the organization.
Mass Casualty Incident Response Planning Consideration Workshop
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
Whether it is an active assailant incident, a train derailment, motor vehicle accident, building collapse, wildfire, or weather event a trending theme behind recent mass casualty incidents is that they are no longer “big city” and “trauma center” problems. From Las Vegas to Perry Iowa all along Tornado alley or the East Coast and beyond, hospitals and Emergency Departments ranging from Critical Access to Level 1 Trauma Centers are facing an increasing number of patient-generating incidents. In most cases, these facilities are attempting to apply pre-hospital triage, patient care, and incident management concepts on an in-hospital setting with mixed and inconsistent results. This workshop builds upon last year’s presentation “Creating Throughput During Chaos: The Evolution of Emergency Department Mass Casualty Response to introduce developed MCI documents as well as triage and management tools to assist planners in preparing their Emergency Department to mitigate, respond to, and recover from mass casualty incidents while continuing to provide care to their routine patients. Through overviews of components and review of established practices, participants will discuss how their facilities would address each aspect of a response (incident command, department setup, triage, treatment, communication, training, etc.) and share their thoughts on additional considerations.
Paul Mikita, MA-EDM, RN, CEN, CEM, CHEP, CBRM, CBRITP, HcEM-M, NHDP-BC, MICN
Assistant Director, Corporate Office of Emergency Management, RWJBarnabas Health
Often referred to as a “master of disaster”, Paul is a healthcare emergency management expert who has developed an interest in combining the concepts and principles of patient care and emergency and disaster management to the healthcare sector. His ability to develop practical strategies towards not only emergency and disaster response but also education and training, relies on his over 30 years of pre-hospital, nursing, and emergency management expertise. Known as a straight shooter, Paul prides himself on being able to rely on his own knowledge and experiences to translate the often foreign and sometimes confusing principles of emergency and disaster response for the healthcare provider.
Forging Tomorrow's Leaders: Building an Emergency Preparedness Fellowship for the Next Generation of Healthcare Emergency Managers
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
Every healthcare system is racing against the same clock: incidents are multiplying, threats are diversifying, and the bench of trained emergency management talent isn't keeping pace. What if the solution wasn't just hiring but growing your own? Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at how one of the nation's leading pediatric health systems built a fellowship program that turns recent recent colege graduates into experienced, field-ready emergency preparedness professionals and has been quietly feeding talent into FEMA, CHOP, NYU Langone, Denver Health, and beyond for over a decade. This isn't theory. You'll walk away with the actual job description, a quarter-by-quarter competency framework, a plug-and-play business justification template, and the hard-won lessons from a program that's already produced real leaders in our field. Whether you're staring down a staffing gap, trying to build institutional resilience from the ground up, or just tired of the recruiting headaches, this session hands you the blueprint to build your own pipeline, starting now.
Matthew Butler, MS, CHEP, CHCP, MEP
Senior Director, Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Matthew Butler is a nationally recognized leader in healthcare emergency management with more than 25 years of experience spanning frontline emergency services, hospital operations, and executive leadership. As Senior Director of Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), he provides strategic oversight for one of the nation's most comprehensive pediatric resilience programs — integrating planning, mitigation, response, and recovery across a complex, multi-facility health system that includes acute care, outpatient, and research environments.
Matthew's career reflects a rare combination of operational depth and strategic reach. He began as a certified paramedic and firefighter serving the Philadelphia region, building the instincts for rapid decision-making and calm under pressure that define his leadership today. He went on to serve as Program Director for the Center for Special Operations Training and Network Manager of Emergency Preparedness at Albert Einstein Healthcare Network before joining CHOP in 2012, where he has spent more than a decade building and leading enterprise-wide preparedness programs at the highest levels of a premier academic pediatric health system.
A dedicated educator, Matthew serves as an Adjunct Professor at Jefferson University's College of Health Professionals, where he teaches Healthcare Emergency Management at both the bachelor's and master's levels. He holds a Master of Science in Disaster Medicine and Management and a Bachelor of Science in Health Services Management — both from Philadelphia University, where he graduated summa cum laude.
His certifications reflect the breadth of his expertise: Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP), Certified Healthcare Provider Continuity Professional (CHPCP), FEMA Master Exercise Practitioner (MEP), and Pennsylvania State Fire Academy ICS Instructor, among others.
Matthew has shaped emergency preparedness well beyond the walls of CHOP. He served as Chairman of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Healthcare Coalition from 2022 to 2025, is a founding member of the Pennsylvania Healthcare Coalition Council, and has held leadership roles across regional emergency hospital support zones and task forces throughout his career. He is an active member of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM), the Philadelphia Local Emergency Planning Committee, the Statewide Advisory Committee for Preparedness, and Pennsylvania DMAT-4.
In 2023, Matthew was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from IAEM Region 3 — a recognition of more than two decades of transformative contributions to the field of emergency management.
Raising the Surge Standard: Model Planning Language for Arizona Healthcare Facilities
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
This presentation summarizes a review of Arizona healthcare surge plans and the development of practical planning tools to help facilities strengthen readiness for mass casualty events, infectious disease surges, and other high-demand incidents. It highlights the 11 core surge plan elements used in the analysis, common strengths and gaps identified across reviewed plans, and how those findings were translated into a template, model language, and compliance-oriented planning resources for healthcare facilities in Arizona.
Brianna Rooney, DrPH, MPH
Assistant Research Professor, University of Arizona
Brianna Rooney, DrPH, MPH, is an Assistant Research Professor at the Arizona Center for Rural Health and the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Department of Applied Population Health and Policy. She leads programs supporting financial and operational improvement, focusing on resilience in rural and tribal healthcare communities. Dr. Rooney’s research focuses on healthcare preparedness, policy, and rural health delivery, with an emphasis on using disaster epidemiology and translational research methods to generate actionable evidence for practice and policy. Her work investigates how organizational structures, health policy, continuity of care, and social factors shape preparedness outcomes and health system performance. She applies mixed methods and program evaluation approaches to develop data-informed strategies that enhance community and organizational resilience.
Preparing Your Hospital for Environmental Emergencies
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
Environmental emergencies, such as wildfires, extreme heat, and cold, pose systemic risks to healthcare infrastructure and acute care delivery. Federal tools and data sources, such as the National Integrated Drought Information System, the Environmental Public Health Tracking Network, and the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit, provide critical information to predict and manage risks to operational continuity during extreme weather events.
Familiarity with available predictive tools and built-in modeling applications helps hospitals anticipate patient surges, mitigate resource scarcity, and protect critical infrastructure from environmental threats. Furthermore, true institutional readiness requires hospitals and public health departments to co-design upstream, societal-level interventions. By embedding risk metrics into shared Community Health Needs Assessments, healthcare coalitions can target interventions toward socioeconomically vulnerable populations, mitigate regional heat islands, and bolster community-level infrastructure. This strategic alignment helps ensure hospitals remain resilient sanctuaries that protect public health during weather-related crises.
In this session, we will briefly review:
- Federal sources for environmental threat data and resources;
- Emergency preparedness planning requirements and resources for public health departments that support upstream, community-level prevention; and
- Effective ways to reach out to and partner with your local public health department
David Reddick, CBCP
Chief Strategy Officer and Co-Founder, Bio-Defense Network
Valeria Carlson,MPH, CHES, PM​
President and CEO of Clyde Consulting, LLC and Co-Founder of Purpose Built Impact
David Reddick, CBCP
David Reddick is a long-time active member of AHEPP and is chief strategy officer and co-founder of Bio-Defense Network, a national public health and emergency management preparedness consultancy. He holds a graduate certificate in emergency management and crisis leadership from Saint Louis University and is a certified business continuity professional. The firm focuses on strategic planning and supporting local and regional public health and emergency management agencies.
Valeria Carlson
Valeria Carlson, MPH, CHES, PMP, is a senior project manager with more than two decades of leadership and consulting experience. Her broad range of past roles include serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in West Africa, advising local boards of health in Massachusetts on regionalization efforts, coordinating coalitions to develop draft federal rules relating to hospital community benefit reporting, leading the revision of CDC's National Public Health Performance Standards assessment tools, and establishing the first-ever project management office within the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. She has taken on leadership roles in significant national and international emergency responses, including West Africa Ebola and COVID-19. Ms. Carlson is the President and CEO of Clyde Consulting, LLC and co-founder of Purpose Built Impact, a public health consultancy,
​
From Notification to Isolation: Evaluating Preparedness Through A Rapid, Progressive Ebola Exercise Series
Tuesday, February 23, 2027 | 3:15 - 5:05pm
When high consequence infectious disease outbreaks occur in the world, especially Ebola, healthcare organizations must ensure their preparedness plans remain operationally viable. Following renewed global concern of Ebola activity in Central and East Africa, hospital executives requested an immediate evaluation of organizational readiness for managing a person under investigation for Ebola. Emergency Management Department’s Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) Program developed and facilitated three progressively complex exercises over two weeks to gain a better understanding of “current state” challenges, staff knowledge, and then validate critical workflows to identify gaps and areas for improvement. Participants will gain insight into how to make the most of a perfect storm of real-world events and engaged leadership to assess capabilities, identify gaps, and drive lasting preparedness improvements.
Elizabeth Puzniak, MPH, CPH, MPS, NREMT
Emergency Preparedness Manager, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Barnes-Jewish Hospital
Elizabeth Puzniak is an Emergency Preparedness Manager at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, with a focus in Emerging Infectious Diseases. She has worked as the Emergency Preparedness Manager for the Emerging Infectious Diseases (EID) team since 2021, bridging together public health, infectious diseases, and emergency management to strive for a high level of preparedness against high consequence infectious diseases. Elizabeth leans an interdisciplinary team of Special Pathogens Laboratory, Clinicians, Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU), Emergency Department, Environmental Services, Public Safety, Occupational Health, Infection Prevention, and Emergency Management in quarterly trainings and exercises focused on high consequence infectious disease identification, isolation, care, and patient transport.
Elizabeth currently serves as the Vice-Chair for the St. Louis Regional Healthcare Coalition; System of Care Committee member, working to develop national standards for hospital minimum capabilities for high consequence infectious disease preparedness; and Region VII Committee member, which brings together Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, and Missouri to train and educate on high consequence infectious disease preparedness efforts.
Elizabeth is a lifelong learner who thrives on growth, curiosity, and new challenges, and loves brining the same energy into trainings. Her goal is to make education engaging, interactive, and fun so people leave inspired and confident to take action.