Publications

On behalf of the U.S. Department of Defense, Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Biological Threat Reduction Program (BTRP), Sandia National Laboratories (SNL) Global Chemical and Biological Security (GCBS) group visited the Jordan Royal Medical Society (RMS) from 8 to 11 April 2019. The goal of this visit was to provide subject matter expertise and advisory support to DTRA/BTRP and RMS regarding RMS' desire to establish a self-sufficient biorisk management (BRIV1) training capability housed in a training centre programmed to provide biorisk management training to the Jordan military services and beyond. This report provides SNL/GCBS' assessment of the status of RMS' current and desired capability as a BRM Training Centre across four critical components: 1) Curriculum, 2) Trainers, 3) Oversight and Administration, and 4) Facility.

The following document represents the joint SNL/IBCTR and HDR Team's Training Centre needs assessment for the Jordan Royal Medical Service (RMS) at the King Hussein Medical Centre (KHMC) and should be used as follows: 1) To present options for future facility improvements. 2) In support of obtaining additional funding for the facility and finalization of a plan for equipment, human resource development, and technical assistance. 3) as a platform to guide future considerations to provide training centre facilities in support of the Biorisk Management (BRM) training and other training to compliment RMS capabilities.

Abstract not provided.

We applied modeling and simulation to examine the real-world tradeoffs between developingcountry public-health improvement and the need to improve the identification, tracking, and security of agents with bio-weapons potential. Traditionally, the international community has applied facility-focused strategies for improving biosecurity and biosafety. This work examines how system-level assessments and improvements can foster biosecurity and biosafety. We modeled medical laboratory resources and capabilities to identify scenarios where biosurveillance goals are transparently aligned with public health needs, and resource are distributed in a way that maximizes their ability to serve patients while minimizing security a nd safety risks. Our modeling platform simulates key processes involved in healthcare system operation, such as sample collection, transport, and analysis at medical laboratories. The research reported here extends the prior art by provided two key compone nts for comparative performance assessment: a model of patient interaction dynamics, and the capability to perform uncertainty quantification. In addition, we have outlined a process for incorporating quantitative biosecurity and biosafety risk measures. Two test problems were used to exercise these research products examine (a) Systemic effects of technological innovation and (b) Right -sizing of laboratory networks.