This proposal describes a 3 year training program for the development of an academic career in public health research, though course work, directed study, and research in assessing and measuring the application and impact of law and policy to public health emergency preparedness. The Department of Health Policy at George Washington University provides an ideal environment for this type of training and research, allowing the principal investigator to draw on the vast departmental expertise in legal analysis, health services research and public health policy. The research program will document and analyze international efforts to implement the International Health Regulations (IHR(2005)), scheduled to enter into force in June 2007, with the intent of translating lessons and examples from the international experience into recommendations for domestic federal and state officials to enhance compliance with the IHR(2005) and improve our overall capacity to protect the public from disease threats. Research will be organized around the methodological guidelines of legal analysis and implementation research, and structured around three specific aims: 1. to conduct a legal analysis of perceived and real constitutional barriers to the domestic implementation of IHR (2005), 2. to determine what aspects of the international IHR(2005) implementation experience can inform and assist the United States, and 3. to translate the findings from the study of domestic legal barriers and the international IHR(2005) experience into actionable policy recommendations that assist federal and state decision makers. Together, the above studies aims will examine the global impact of the international health regulations, and translate those findings to inform and assist in strengthening the domestic public health infrastructure so that we are better prepared to identify and respond to emerging health threats. The overall research objectives for this project align with two of the CDC Health Protection Goals: 'People prepared for emerging health threats', and 'Healthy people in a healthy world: people around the world will live safer healthier and longer lives through health promotion, health protection and health diplomacy.' The project also addresses several sub-goals, including 'examining the impact of international health regulations on public health infrastructure,' and 'law as a cross cutting research tool. ? ? ?
