Mission Statement: Established in 2003, the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health works to understand and improve the nation's capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. NCDP has four focus areas: system readiness, disaster recovery, citizen engagement, and vulnerable populations. NCDP carries out research and policy analysis in these areas, and provides education, training and technical support to public health workers, local and regional governments, and public health, hospital, and community partners.

About Us: 
The National Center for Disaster Preparedness at Columbia University was established following the domestic attacks of 2001, in response to the urgent need for a knowledge-based approach to disaster preparedness.

NCDP develops research that helps us prepare for, respond to, and recover from large-scale disasters (including hurricanes, earthquakes, industrial accidents, pandemic flu's, or terrorist attacks). NCDP's approach combines on-the-ground analysis, policy work, education, and high level advocacy to ensure that the best thinking, and best practices, become part of our national disaster preparedness and recovery work.

Founded by Irwin Redlener, MD, a pediatrician and advocate for children's health, NCDP is a leader in efforts to include children in disaster preparedness planning; many of NCDP's recovery projects have focused on the health and mental health needs of children who have been affected by disasters.

The National Center for Disaster Preparedness is affiliated with the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. NCDP senior faculty have appointments in the school's departments of Population and Family Health and in Sociomedical Sciences, and its twenty affiliated faculty represent a broad range of academic expertise in disciplines across the University's schools of public health, medicine, nursing, engineering, and the Earth Institute.

With CDC funding, NCDP provides training and technical support to public health workers, local and regional governments, and public health, hospital, and community partners, through the Columbia Regional Learning Center.