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Patience and good science vital, says PACER's Dr. Lee Jenkins

(June 2007)

“Disaster preparedness and response are vital elements to homeland security,” says Dr. Lee Jenkins, a research fellow at the DHS PACER Center. Also a medical doctor with a Master’s degree in emergency health epidemiology, Jenkins is well-versed in disaster management and human health.

She is the appointed epidemiologist for the New Jersey-1 Disaster Medical Assistance Team and a clinical faculty member in the Emergency Department at Johns Hopkins University Hospital, and has served on the frontlines of disasters such as Hurricane Katrina. It is her formative years, however, that fed her current interests.

“I began my career as a paramedic in Texas where I first began to appreciate emergency medicine,” says Jenkins. This experience led to her master’s degree and eventual completion of her medical degree.

“My current areas of interest include hospital preparedness for disasters,” she says, citing work that seeks to validate an instrument to compare hospital preparedness nationwide. She also recently published results from a Katrina-related study comparing the epidemiology of patients in Mississippi and Louisiana.

Patience and good scientific methods are keys to success, Jenkins tells students and recent graduates. “Valuable research questions, developing methods and testing protocols take time and dedication.”