| |
University of Hawai'i |
(808) 956-8856 Telephone |
For Immediate Release: |
September 4, 1997 |
Contact: Cheryl Ernst, (808) 956-5941 Dr. Frederick (Skip) Burkle, Jr. |
World Health Organization to designate a Collaborating Center for Humanitarian Civil-Military Cooperation in Hawai'i University of Hawai'i Professor to head the center The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated the Center of Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance of Honolulu, Hawai'i, as a PAHO/WHO Collaborating center for Humanitarian Civil-Military Cooperation. PAHO is the Pan American Health Organization. The designation would be effective for a period of four years during which time it would contribute to the coordination between civilian and military for disaster health prevention, mitigation, preparedness and response. The center would also improve the organization and development of disaster electronic information networks along with developing methodologies for the transfer of disaster response information and skills. University of Hawai'i Professor Frederick Burkle, Jr. will head the new center. Burkle specializes in pediatrics and emergency medicine at the John A. Burns School of Medicine and is trained as an international health delegate by the International Committee of the Red Cross in Switzerland. During the Gulf War, Burkle, a captain in the U.S. Naval Reserve, headed the Marine Corps trauma center in Kuwait. He was later called back by the Red Cross to help coordinate the Kurdish refugee relief effort and assess humanitarian needs in Iraq. He also worked in Somolia and the former Yugoslavia. The Center is in partnership with the University of Hawaii, Tripler Army Medical Center and the United States Pacific Command (PACOM). |
-UH-
