SINO-LUSO MEDICAL FORUM | Harvard Medical School professor shares experience on managing disasters

Harvard Medical School professor Susan Briggs will be sharing her experiences managing complex disasters, such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Hurricane Katrina and the Boston Marathon bombing, during the Sino-Luso International Medical Forum (Series 23) taking place in Macau between January 31 and February 2.
The three-day medical forum, chaired by the Macau University of Science and Technology’s Faculty of Health Sciences, will examine “Managing Complex Disasters: Lessons Learned.”
Professor Briggs will be accompanied by her medical rescue team, who will share their insights on managing disasters with Macau’s frontline medical providers.
Dr. Roy Alson, Medical Director for the North Carolina State Office of the EMS Disaster Medical Response System will be speaking at the forum, regarding the current and deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus. Dr. Alson is an associate professor of Emergency Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, and director of the office of Pre-hospital and Disaster Medicine at Wake Forest.
The delegation consists of nursing experts as well, including Ms Lin-Ti Chang from Massachusetts General Hospital, who will deliver a presentation on the “Evaluation of Mass Casualty Incidents and Responses to Disasters.”
Experts from Hong Kong have also been invited to attend the forum. These include Dr. Jimmy Chan, president of the Hong Kong Association for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine, and Dr. Chow Yuk-Yin, founding vice-president of the Hong Kong Association for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine, who will be conducting workshops regarding Extremity Injury.
“Our longstanding forum is committed to developing quality healthcare training programs in the preparedness and response for major incidents and disasters through collaborative partnership programs within our local healthcare institutions and overseas strategic partners,” said professor Manson Fok, president of the Sino-Luso Medical Forum, in a statement.
Hong Kong and US experts will also provide an overview of what kind of prevention measures prevailed after the contamination triggered by the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown, and during rescue missions after the Sichuan earthquake.
Moreover, both teams will be running competency-based skills training workshops, including exercises based on potential scenarios, so that they are able to assess different situations within disaster-related healthcare.
“We are all aware that disasters – whether natural or man-
made – are on the increase internationally, and also in our region, including typhoons and radiation scares. This forum is an opportunity to develop networks and lines of communication, to foster relationships with our medical partners in China and this region, and to sustain our regional emergency preparedness efforts,” said professor Fok.
Experts from the Philippines will also be participating in the forum to address super typhoon-
related matters.
Keynote lectures commence at 2pm on Saturday at the Dr. Stanley Ho Medical Development Foundation – located at Landmark Macau. A full-day workshop runs from 9:30am to 5pm on Sunday at the Faculty of Health Sciences skills center at MUST.
The Sino-Luso Medical Forum is chaired by the Macau University of Science and Technology’s (MUST) Faculty of Health Sciences, and organized by the Macau Healthcare Management and Promotion Association. The event is supported by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, and the Chinese Medical Doctors Association, among other international organizations.