Office of Readiness and Response: Division of Emergency Operations

Why We're Here

Mission: Integrating public health and emergency management expertise to support preparedness for and response to health threats at home and around the world.
Vision: To be the worldwide leader in public health response and emergency management integration.

Interior of the EOC
Branches

Plans, Exercise, and Evaluation Branch

  • Develops, writes and coordinates CDC plans for all-hazards responses.
  • Designs and conducts preparedness and response exercises.
  • Evaluates response operations and exercise activities for improvement in CDC readiness and response capabilities.
  • Develops, coordinates, and publishes contingency plans, incident action plans, and situation reports for Incident Management System (IMS) activations.

Resource Support Branch

  • Identifies responders and manages cadres, as part of the CDCReady Responder program, and connects responders to response positions during emergencies.
  • Provides deployment services: deployer mobilization, emergency travel, equipment and communications, and deployer support.
  • Provides support services: emergency transportation, supplemental facility support, and emergency resource requests.

Operations Branch

  • Serves as the 24/7 focal point for CDC emergency activities.
  • Alerts and informs CDC leadership of evolving public health emergencies and disasters.
  • Supports requests for emergency management assistance from across CDC, as well as international, federal, and state/local partners.
  • Orchestrates all aspects of CDC’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) daily operations and IMS response operations.

Emergency Management Training and Capacity Development Branch

  • Provides emergency management training and technical assistance to CDC staff and international ministry of health (MoH) partners.
  • Conducts the Public Health Emergency Management Fellowship for international MoH leaders.
  • Leads training development and delivery efforts to prepare CDC staff for emergency response roles, as part of the CDCReady Responder program.
DEO Key Functions
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Administers CDC’s Emergency Management Program.

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Improves the agency’s response posture to ensure CDC is ready to effectively respond to public health emergencies via the Graduated Response Framework (GRF) and CDC Ready Responder.

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Facilitates well-coordinated, agency-wide responses to emergencies and disasters, such as disease outbreaks and hurricanes.

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Coordinates with all CDC Centers, Institute, and Offices (CIOs) in planning, training, exercising, managing, and evaluating pre-response and response activities.

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Operates as CDC’s 24/7/365 focal point for coordination and prioritization of resources to support on-scene response operations around the world.

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Provides 24/7 deployment support by coordinating domestic and international travel for CDC responders on emergency deployments.

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Supports CIOs in the standup, management, transition, and standdown of emergency responses across the levels of the GRF.

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Assists countries in establishing Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) programs through workforce development, systems strengthening, and infrastructure for EOCs.

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Liaises with federal and other partners to identify, assess, and respond to suspected or confirmed threats or incidents.