Since 2003, ORAU has worked with Department of Health and Human Services operating and staff divisions that are instrumental in preparing for and responding to public health emergencies. Our capabilities and experience make us uniquely suited to support federal agencies and other organizations working to better understand and solve COVID-19 issues. We have proven experience in areas including peer review, health communication, pandemic preparedness, social listening and more.
Assessment and evaluation connects STEM strategies to public health pipeline building
ORAU has experience evaluating national and international, single-site and multi-site STEM-focused programs and focuses on evaluating federally-funded programs, processes and services at national laboratories and universities. We conduct assessments and evaluations that inform stakeholders by providing outcome-oriented, data-driven information on projects or programs.
Community preparedness: Best practices for emergency and disaster response
For decades, ORAU has engaged state and local public health departments across the United States to develop tools that focus on a whole-community approach to emergency preparedness. The approach requires public health, healthcare, emergency medical services and emergency management working together to provide the right care at the right time.
For more than 70 years, we have helped our customers advance their mission by providing science, health and workforce solutions. Through our specialized teams of experts and a consortium of more than 120 universities, we connect the right people and resources to help our customers solve our nation’s most challenging issues.
Community preparedness helps ensure effective emergency and disaster response
From natural disasters to global pandemics like COVID-19, ORAU has supported preparedness and response programs for more than three decades. Whether helping hospitals expand medical surge capacity for hurricane response or evaluating medical countermeasures planning, ORAU helps customers prepare for, respond to and recover from all types of public health and healthcare emergencies.
ORAU has awarded five William G. Pollard Scholarships of $2,500 each toward undergraduate studies for the 2020-2021 academic year. The recipients of this year’s scholarships are Jamie Batson, Cody Blankenship, Olivia Hudson, Audra Jean (AJ) Jones and Savannah Jones.
Contact tracing is critical as nation’s COVID-19 recovery moves forward
State and local governments across the country are loosening stay-at-home and safer-at- home restrictions, allowing businesses of all kinds to reopen so the economy, ground to a near halt by coronavirus protections, can kick back into gear.
As activities of everyday life resume, public health experts at all levels of government remain concerned about the potential for COVID-19 flare ups and the possibility of a second wave of outbreaks. To prevent this from happening, public health departments are relying on contact tracing to help reduce community spread of the coronavirus.
Podcast: Contact tracing—what it is and why it’s important
As the nation and the world take steps to reopen for business after weeks of safer at home/stay at home practices, the subject of contact tracing is making headlines. What is contact tracing, how does it work, and why is it important? These questions and more are addressed by ORAU health communication and marketing team members. Freddy Gray, Julie Crumly, Rachel Vasconez and Jennifer Burnette join hosts Michael Holtz and Jenna Harpenau for this important and timely conversation.
Union Grove Elementary School wins $25,000 in annual Extreme Classroom Makeover competition
Amy Buchanan from Union Grove Elementary School was surprised as winner of the 2020 Extreme Classroom Makeover. Now in its 12th year, ORAU’s Extreme Classroom Makeover has awarded teachers across East Tennessee with $25,000 for their classrooms. Photo courtesy of The Daily Times
Separating fact from social media misinformation during COVID-19 pandemic
Rumors, hoaxes and misinformation have been running rampant on social media in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tiffani Conner, Ph.D., an ORAU social scientist with expertise in misinformation and social media research, has good advice for navigating the rapidly changing news cycle.
ORAU provides innovative scientific and technical solutions to advance science education and workforce development and protect health and the environment. We connect the right people and resources to get things done, and we put the full power of our organization behind every project—both large and small.
