This course will introduce students to the knowledge, skills and competencies needed to address large- scale public health preparedness and emergency response. This course explores public health aspects of surveillance, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery from major categories and classification of disaster events including epidemics and weapons of mass destruction. Other course topics include how the public health system integrates with the National Response Plan and Framework and teaching students how to use the Threat and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA) to determine community vulnerabilities.