Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction
(Awareness level) 

Trainer
Cindy Parker, MD, MPH, training specialist, Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; and Dan Barnett, MD, MPH, training specialist, Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Description
An awareness-level understanding of weapons of mass destruction is essential for addressing the public health readiness needs of the post-9/11 world. In Introduction to Weapons of Mass Destruction, you will hear Drs. Parker and Barnett explain chemical, biological and radiological weapons of mass destruction, with a focus on their unique characteristics and implications for public health emergency preparedness and response.

Trainer Biography
Dr. Parker is a training specialist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health Preparedness and holds a faculty appointment as research associate in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. In her position as training specialist for the Center, Dr. Parker has focused on risk communication during a disaster, providing risk communication training to such diverse groups as the Baltimore Hospital Association, Mid-Atlantic Association of Community Health Centers and multiple county health departments in the Mid-Atlantic region. She also works with health departments and other facets of the public health workforce throughout the Mid-Atlantic region to develop curriculum and provide training in disaster preparedness.

Prior to her position at the Center, Dr. Parker was the environmental health consultant to Physicians for Social Responsibility, where she provided expertise on risk communication of environmental health issues to physicians, policy makers, the media and the general public. She also provided risk communication and environmental health expertise to the Hopkins Program on Health Effects of Global Environmental Change in developing an interactive children’s website.

Dr. Parker received her MD from the University of Arizona and her MPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She is board-certified in both Family Practice and Preventive Medicine.

Dr. Barnett serves as a training specialist with the Center for Public Health Preparedness (CPHP) at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health where he provides a range of preparedness training to the public health workforce. He is also an Instructor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Barnett’s research interests include best practice models to enhance all-hazards public health emergency readiness and response. Specific areas of focus include design and evaluation of preparedness curricula for public health workers; mental health aspects of public health emergency response; public health readiness exercises; and organizational culture change issues facing health departments in building a ready public health workforce.

Dr. Barnett received a BA in English from Yale University and his MD degree at Ohio State University College of Medicine and Public Health. He earned his MPH degree at The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and he completed the Johns Hopkins General Preventive Medicine Residency Program in 2002.