Biosurveillance Conference (NDIA #2320)

Conference Objective

The NDIA Biosurveillance Conference will provide a forum for addressing the many known shortfalls and inadequacies, in the biosurveillance community, preventing us from developing, implementing, and maintaining a national biosurveillance strategy.

Attendees will be provided the opportunity to share ideas and explore the vital next steps to achieve the overall goal of standardizing and integrating the biosurveillance community, thus, helping us prepare for and protect against harmful biological agents in the environment.

In a time where strengthening our defenses in the biological arena is of national priority, it’s more important than ever to bring government, industry, academia, and first responders together, on one stage, in order to “address the shortfalls and fill in the gaps” in our national biosurveillance strategy.

Addressing the Shortfalls of a National Biosurveillance Strategy

Some of the shortfalls that have hindered the advancement of a national strategy, which must be effectively analyzed and addressed, include:

• The inability of state and local biosurveillance programs to effectively collaborate and communicate – lack of information, data, and resource sharing, thus, creating duplicative missions
• The lack of urgency for a national biosurveillance strategy and the necessary funding
• No clear federal strategy for properly developing, implementing, and maintaining the biosurveillance systems in the U.S.
• The absence of agreement on what data and information is important and what constitutes “actionable” biosurveillance information
• Poor interoperability between public health and healthcare institutions

Exploring the Next Steps

After analzying and addressing the shortfalls of a national biosurveillance strategy, the Biosurveillance Conference will then allow attendees to share ideas on and explore the vital next steps that must be taken. Some of the next steps that will be explored include:

• Defining clear and definitive roles and responsibilities of local, state, and federal agencies, at each level, as it relates to humans, animals, food, and environmental surveillance
• Prioritizing and allocating investments, based on clearly defined federal missions and goals
• Taking a proactive approach to biosurveillance, as opposed to a reactive approach
• Developing effective sytems and procedures, as well as hiring highly-skilled and competent workers, to maintain an effective biosurveillance strategy

Who Will Attend

This conference will bring together today’s leading biosurveillance professionals from government, industry, academia, and first responders. Conference registration is open to the public and both women and men of all professional levels are encouraged to attend.

• Biosurveillance Technology Experts & Scientists
• Government Biosurveillance Labs & Entities
• System/Concept Developers
• Health/Medical Experts & Scientists