Emergency Medicine Transmissible Infectious Diseases and Epidemics Consortium: EMTIDE

Vision

To improve local and national capacity for early detection and response to transmissible infectious disease threats through a broad national emergency department-based consortium, which conducts impactful research and influences practice and policy, leveraging both expertise and infrastructure from the front lines of the health care system.

Mission

To build and sustain a coordinated network of individuals in emergency and acute care practice settings with the capacity to rapidly and efficiently mobilize for early detection and response to transmissible infectious disease threats. Recognizing that emergency departments are the gateway to the health care system during infectious disease epidemics, EMTIDE aims to strengthen existing infrastructure through innovative research that influences individual and population health, while building readiness to rapidly mobilize sites for early detection and response to new emerging infectious disease threats. EMTIDE members include national experts from varied disciplines, including emergency medicine, infectious diseases, critical care medicine, pathology and public health.

EMTIDE is led by Richard Rothman, M.D., Ph.D. (rrothman@jhmi.edu), professor, director of research, and vice chair of research at the Johns Hopkins Department of Emergency Medicine, and is supported by the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine. 

Co-founders of EMTIDE include Michael Lyons, M.D., University of Cincinnati; Jason Haukoos M.D., M.Sc., University of Colorado Denver; Douglas White, Highland Hospital in Oakland, California; and James Galbraith, M.D., University of Alabama. Other founding members from Johns Hopkins Medicine include Yu-Hsiang Hsieh, Ph.D., Jeremiah Hinson, M.D., Ph.D., Bhakti Hansoti, M.B.Ch.B., and Lauren Sauer, M.S.

EMTIDE is an interest group of the Society for Academic Emergency Medicine (SAEM); activities are coordinated via SAEM, the Johns Hopkins Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response (CEPAR) and the Johns Hopkins National Center for the Study of Preparedness and Catastrophic Event Response (PACER).

History

EMTIDE was formed in 2017 through a coalescence of multiple existing emergency medicine coalitions, all with a focus on infectious disease and public health crisis response. The combined experience and accomplishments of these entities is vast and position EMTIDE for success in meeting the challenges ahead.

The following organizations came together to create EMTIDE:

The National HIV Consortium was founded in 2016, through the collaborative efforts of public health organizations and academic and community hospitals across the U.S. with a common goal of responding to the ongoing HIV (and subsequently HCV) epidemics. That group conducted impactful work, including multi-center National Institutes of Health trials, dissemination of best practice throughout the U.S., and guidance on important policy legislation for individual states.

PACER, a Department of Homeland Security Emeritus Center of Excellence, was founded in 2005 in response to the devastating impact of 9/11, the 2001 Amerithrax attacks and hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the domestic health care system. The mission of PACER is to improve the nation’s preparedness and the ability to respond to disasters through rigorous scientific research focused on medical and public health preparedness strategies, response capabilities and surge capacity. To best achieve this mission, PACER conducts research focused on key areas, including surge capacity, disaster modeling and simulation, pandemic and infectious disease outbreak research, and disaster education.

CEPAR is an office of the Johns Hopkins institutions. It oversees an enterprisewide endeavor to coordinate the efforts of Johns Hopkins to enhance Homeland Security and to address potential disasters. CEPAR serves as the command center in planning for, and reacting to, a disaster. CEPAR’s objectives are to:

• Create and implement effective Johns Hopkins enterprisewide planning and preparedness for critical events.
• Develop a model disaster response plan integrated with local, regional, military and federal entities.
• Serve as a model disaster planning and response system adaptable to other major metropolitan areas nationally and worldwide.