Bioterrorism And Biological Threats Dominate Federal Health Security Research; Other Priorities Get Scant Attention
- Shoshana R. Shelton ( [email protected] ) is a senior research project associate at the RAND Corporation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- Kathryn Connor is a cost analyst at the RAND Corporation in Pittsburgh.
- Lori Uscher-Pines is a health policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia.
- Francesca Matthews Pillemer is a policy researcher at the RAND Corporation in Pittsburgh.
- James M. Mullikin is deputy chief of the Applied Science and Evaluation Branch, Division of State and Local Readiness, Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response, at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in Atlanta, Georgia.
- Arthur L. Kellermann holds the Paul O’Neill–Alcoa Chair in Policy Analysis at the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Virginia.
Abstract
The federal government plays a critical role in achieving national health security by providing strategic guidance and funding research to help prevent, respond to, mitigate, and recover from disasters, epidemics, and acts of terrorism. In this article we describe the first-ever inventory of nonclassified national health security–related research funded by civilian agencies of the federal government. Our analysis revealed that the US government’s portfolio of health security research is currently weighted toward bioterrorism and emerging biological threats, laboratory methods, and development of biological countermeasures. Eight of ten other priorities identified in the Department of Health and Human Services’ National Health Security Strategy—such as developing and maintaining a national health security workforce or incorporating recovery into planning and response—receive scant attention. We offer recommendations to better align federal spending with health security research priorities, including the creation of an interagency working group charged with minimizing research redundancy and filling persistent gaps in knowledge.
