"...On 29 September 2006, Eric Noji (Stanford, 1977) delivered a lecture on the public health consequences of disasters, at the University of Pittsburgh’s main campus. However, this wasn't an ordinary lecture delivered to a packed auditorium of scholars and students. Eric’s lecture was Webcast around the world. It was expected to reach more than 1.5 million viewers, the largest academic lecture in history. Instead they had more than 3 million! Unfortunately, this exceeded the number of global access portals the university and its 12 global telecommunication partners had anticipated. Internet pioneer Vint Cerf (Stanford, 1965), was at Eric’s lecture and managed to wirelessly contact several friends around the world who opened up enough additional access points to allow another 50,000 viewers to log on—just 10 minutes late..." - Stanford Magazine, JULY/AUGUST 2007

1. Feature Story
feature story
Classroom
without Borders
“This single GSPH Live webcast of Cutler Memorial Lecture reaches thousands
lecture could reach as Eric K. Noji, MD, MPH, laughs as he describes the evolution of his
career from emergency physician to senior policy advisor for health and
many as a million, national security at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC). “My whole career has been a disaster,” he says jovially. Indeed,
making it the largest it was his expertise in disaster preparedness and epidemiology that drew
a record audience for GSPH’s John C. Cutler Annual Global Health
classroom ever.” Lecture on September 29, 2005.
Noji’s presentation, “The Public Health Consequences of Disaster:
Challenges for Public Health Action,” could not have been more timely.
In a year that began with rescue and relief efforts following the Asian
tsunami, the lecture came fast on the heels of Hurricanes Katrina and
Rita. The local turnout was twice the usual size. Even so, most of the
members of this audience weren’t elbow to elbow in the GSPH auditorium.
They were actually scattered around the world.
GSPH Professor of Epidemiology Ronald LaPorte had arranged and
publicized a groundbreaking, live internet webcast of the Cutler lecture.
LaPorte had already pioneered the Supercourse, a powerhouse Internet
library of more than 2000 public health lectures (www.pitt.edu/~super1).
Now he applied what he calls the Supercourse’s “network of networks”
to create a live global classroom. When Noji delivered his speech, he
could be heard simultaneously in as many as 150 countries. More than
300 organizations, including the United Nations, the World Health
Organization, and the Library of Alexandria in Egypt, received a live
2 Spring 2006

2. Classroom without Borders
feed of the lecture from Pitt and then
redistributed it on their own networks.
With 300 simultaneous links and Public Health Lectures on Demand
the possibility of multiple viewers at
each link, it’s likely that the lecture http://mediasite.cidde.pitt.edu/
reached thousands of public health
professionals and students around
the world. Viewers who were not able to access the Cutler lecture live on the Pitt
Mediasite website took the opportunity to download other lectures
In delivering the Cutler lecture, Eric from the archives. Here are some of the most heavily viewed lectures
Noji addressed the state-of-the-art in on the day of the Cutler lecture:
disaster preparedness as well as the
role of the epidemiologist, drawing • 2005 Thomas Parran Lecture:
on his considerable experience with “Achieving the Promise of Public Health”
natural and technological disasters, Noreen M. Clark, PhD
terrorism, violent civil conflict, war,
and humanitarian emergencies. “Now • Distance Learning Interactive TV Workshop:
is the time that we need to apply “The Use of ‘Community-based Participatory’ Strategies to Address
lessons learned,” Noji says. “Schools
Issues of Health Disparities.”
of public health are rarely able to
Stephen B. Thomas, PhD; Robert M. Goodman, PhD
conduct detailed investigations of
risk factors for injuries, deaths, and
communicable diseases or long-term
• The Jay L. Foster Memorial Lecture Series in Alzheimer’s Disease:
follow-up studies related to mental “Frontotemporal Dementia”
health and chronic diseases. We’ve got Bruce L. Miller, MD
to do a much better job of disaster
research if we are going to be able to • Global HIV Prevention:
develop strategies to prevent or Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going
reduce morbidity and mortality from Sten Vermund, MD, PhD
disasters or improve the quality of
disaster preparedness. In other words, • Health Care Workforce Availability During Catastrophic Disasters
we have a ways to go to make disaster Kristine Qureshi, RN, DNSc
research a respected academic field
of study.” • Genes for Common Diseases Association Studies
Aravinda Chakravarti, PhD
• Biological Warfare Bioterrorism Preparedness Operations
William Smith
• Jay L. Foster Memorial Lecture Series in Alzheimer’s Disease:
“Do Genes and Environmental Factors Interact in Alzheimer’s
Disease?”
Richard Mayeux, MD, MSc
• Bioterrorism Emergency Management and the New Public Health
Leadership Role of the State and Local Health Departments
David Carney, MPH
3 Spring 2006

3. Feature Story Classroom without Borders
With such a wide, international dis-
semination, the 2005 Cutler lecture
may go a long way in getting Noji’s
message out. Feedback on the lecture
has been received from students,
researchers, and public health practi-
tioners in the U.S. and around the
world. For instance, Ron LaPorte
reports that colleagues in Tehran
gathered for a 2 a.m. party to watch
the live webcast. A preventive medi-
cine specialist currently stationed in
Peru emailed Noji: “Here in Lima
your talk gave me the opportunity to
gather the different people at the
Ministry of Health (General
Epidemiology Office and Civil
Defense Office), Social Security sys-
tem (ESSALUD), USAID, Peruvian
Red Cross, academia (San Marcos
University), OXFAM International,
Peruvian Society for Emergency and
Disaster Medicine.... We created a
good forum for future events.”
World-wide Distribution of the 2005 The 2005 Cutler lecture is available
in multiple formats online through
John C. Cutler Lecture in Global Health the GSPH archive of lectures:
www.publichealth.pitt.edu/spe-
cialevents/cutler2005/webcast.html.
Noji’s PowerPoint presentation can be
viewed on the Supercourse website.
Argentina Hong Kong Puerto Rico
LaPorte reports that through the
Australia India Russia Supercourse, Noji’s lecture was
Belgium Iran Saudi Arabia distributed in advance to 30,000
Brazil Iraq Serbia locations. He estimates when all is
Canada Israel South Africa said and done, this single GSPH
Chile Japan South Korea lecture could reach as many as a
China Kenya Spain million, making it the largest
Colombia Lithuania Sweden classroom ever.
Costa Rica Mexico Switzerland
Technology for the webcast was developed by
Cyprus Morocco Taiwan Sonic Foundry, which provides web-based com-
Denmark Netherlands Thailand munications services and solutions to colleges
Ecuador New Zealand United Arab and universities. Their Mediasite™ technology
enables educational institutions to easily create
Egypt Nigeria Emirates and distribute web presentations that include
England Pakistan United States fully integrated audio and video.
Germany Peru
Guam Philippines
4 Spring 2006

4. Disaster Certificate
Certificate Program Provides Training in Disaster Response
GSPH currently offers three certificate • Issues in Bioterrorism • Community Disaster Education
programs, with three more to be launched Coordinator
• Emergency Management and Disaster
in fall 2006. In the wake of natural
Response • Emergency Preparedness Health Planner
disasters like the Asian Tsunami and
Hurricane Katrina, a popular certificate • Environmental Health and Occupational
For more information about this and
program is the “Certificate in Public Health Health Preparedness
other certificate programs, visit
Preparedness and Disaster Response.” • Evaluation of Emergency Response www.publichealth.pitt.edu/certificates or
• Risk Communications contact Student Affairs at 412-624-3002.
This 15-credit certificate seeks to improve
the preparedness of local health units by • Mental Health Issues of Disasters
training public health professionals to
lead public health and other agencies in Although there is no definite timeline yet, Other GSPH Certificate Programs
preparedness activities, such as developing there is a plan to offer the entire certificate
and implementing crisis communications program online. Tuition scholarships from • Environmental Risk Assessment
activities, conducting emergency surveil- the CDC are also available. Graduates of • Global Health
lance, and evaluating the effectiveness of the certificate program work in positions
emergency response systems. such as: • Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and
Transgender Health and Wellness
• Bioterrorism Preparedness Program
The learning objectives for this program • Minority Health and Health
Coordinator
are based on priority areas identified by
Disparities Research
the Centers for Disease Control and • Emergency Management Analyst
Prevention (CDC). Courses include: • Domestic Preparedness Coordinator • Public Health Genetics
New GSPH Dean
GSPH Names New Permanent Dean
Donald S. Burke, MD, has been selected as GSPH’s new dean. Dr. Burke is an
internationally renowned expert in the prevention, diagnosis, and control of infectious
diseases of global concern, including HIV/AIDS and avian flu.
Dr. Burke comes to GSPH from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, where he is professor of international health and epidemiology, associate
chair for disease prevention and control in the Department of International Health,
and director of the Center for Immunization Research.
Donald S. Burke
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In addition to serving as the GSPH dean, he also will direct the University of
Pittsburgh’s new Center for Vaccine Research; serve as associate vice chancellor for
Look for a more global health, a newly created position within the Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor
complete article and for the Health Sciences; and become the first occupant of the UPMC-Jonas Salk Chair
introduction to in Global Health. He begins his new duties July 1.
Dr. Burke in the Fall
2006 issue of Dr. Burke will be the University of Pittsburgh’s seventh GSPH dean, replacing
PublicHealth magazine. Bernard Goldstein, MD, who retired as dean at the end of 2005 but remains a faculty
member in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. Roberta
Ness, MD, MPH, chair of the Department of Epidemiology, has served as interim
dean since December 1 of last year.
5 Spring 2006