March/April 2002
Medical school will help cope with terrorism
By Carissa Neff
Florida State's new College of Medicine wasted no time in responding to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and the state's subsequent anthrax cases.
The college has created a Center on Terrorism and Public Health to educate health professionals and the public in the areas of bioterrorism and weapons of mass destruction.
"When the events happened in September,
it became clear to me that . . . the state was going to need
to have new partners that could help it to educate the public,"
said Dr. Robert Brooks, director of the new center and associate
dean for health affairs.
Brooks promptly gathered from around the state an advisory board
of experts in a variety of areas-from criminology and emergency
management to infectious diseases and religion.
The center will develop prevention and medical/community responses to terrorism.
But it takes more than a board of ex-perts.
It re-quires money, Brooks said, and the College of Medicine
will apply for federal and state grants. As it turns out, the
college quickly received a $25,000 grant from the Mangurian Foundation,
a private foundation in South Florida. "Now we can expand,"
Brooks said.
He is also helping the Florida Medical Association's task force
on emergency preparedness write a booklet for the public to explain
issues about "the most likely bioterrorist weapons"
such as anthrax, smallpox and plague.
"My personal opinion is that terrorism and our response to it will unfortunately become an important part of life in this country-with 25 nations having biological weapons," Brooks said.
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