Humanitarian assistance is the provision of comprehensive assistance for individuals and communities affected by natural disasters and conflict-related emergencies. Emergency Medicine physicians are well positioned to contribute their clinical, triage and systems management skills during the immediate and recovery phases of humanitarian emergencies.

The EM Department links residents, students and faculty to humanitarian training opportunities throughout the University and beyond and faculty members have responded to humanitarian crisis including the 2010 Haiti Earthquake. Dr. Jennifer Chan, Director of Global Emergency Medicine collaborates with humanitarian academicians throughout Northwestern University, practitioners and the broader research community with a focus on humanitarian technologies and crisis mapping.

Research

• Real Time Urban Search and Rescue
• Can new technology influenced information flows help improve response?
  (A collaboration with the Northwestern School of Engineering Nonprofit Humanitarian and Non-Profit Logistic Group )

Education & Training

Northwestern Courses

• Health and Human Rights

Crisis Mapping & Technology

Mobile phones, Web 2.0 technology, satellite imagery and volunteerism are changing the face of how emergency health responders respond to crisis around the world. Dr. Jennifer Chan, MD, MPH, Director of Global Emergency Medicine collaborates with researchers, practitioners, policy makers and communities around the world in the field of live and crisis mapping.

• Integration of Real-Time Mapping Technology in Disaster Relief Distribution
• Disaster Relief 2.0 Report
• Humanitarian Technologies Training
• Mapping Health Facilities in Libya- Crisis Mappers and the WHO