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COVID-19 has proven among the worst public health crises in a generation. Public health emergencies (PHE) have always been anticipated. Despite the growing field of PHE preparedness and planning since the turn of the twenty-first century and the preparedness plans and exercises developed, the U.S. experienced a suboptimal national response to the emergence of COVID-19 in early 2020 compared to other countries. To explore the U.S. PHE preparedness enterprise, the National Academies Forum on Medical and Public Health Preparedness for Disasters and Emergencies convened a workshop in May 2022. They invited participants from government, NGO, and private sector organizations to consider key components, success stories, and failure points in order to identify opportunities for more effective catastrophic disaster, pandemic, and other large scale PHEs planning at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels. This Proceedings of a Workshop summarizes the discussions held during the

Over the past century, the Everglades has been dramatically altered by drainage and water management infrastructure intended to improve flood management, urban water supply, and agricultural production. Less than half of the original Everglades remain, and these remnants compete for water with urban and agricultural interests, all the while being impaired by contaminated runoff. The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan (CERP) was established in 2000 as a joint effort by the state and federal government to reverse the decline of the ecosystem. The multibillion project aims to restore the ecosystem over the course of 30 to 40 years by reestablishing the natural hydrological characteristics of the Everglades where feasible and ultimately creating a water system that serves both the natural and human needs of South Florida. Since 2004, a National Academies committee has provided a series of independent, peer-reviewed assessments of CERP progress. Implementation of CERP projects has oc

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and other minority institutions (MIs) represent a valuable resource to expand the Department of Defense's (DoD) government and extramural workforce and science and technology enterprise. The more than 400 public and private HBCUs, Tribal Colleges and Universities, Hispanic-Serving Institutions, and other two- and four-year MIs are positioned to make strong and uniquely important contributions to the defense research enterprise, offering DoD an opportunity to widen its talent pool and diversify STEM research and ultimately strengthen its ability to support national security. Defense Research Capacity at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Other Minority Institutions examines the status of DoD research at HBCUs and MIs, including the methods and means necessary to advance research capacity at these institutions in order to comprehensively address the national security and defense needs of the United States. This report off

To examine the potential role of companion animals as sentinels of relevant, shared environmental exposures that may affect human aging and cancer, the National Cancer Policy Forum held a workshop in collaboration with the Forum on Aging, Disability, and Independence and the Standing Committee on the Use of Emerging Science for Environmental Health Decisions to explore this promising and underutilized pathway for research. Presentations and panel discussions covered the current state of the science and pathways for accelerating research, along with opportunities and challenges for using this novel translational approach to exposure science to advance human health. This Proceedings of a Workshop outlines the presentations and discussions that occurred during the workshop.

The Forum on Regenerative Medicine of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine convened a two-day virtual public workshop to address knowledge gaps in the understanding of promising approaches to manipulate the immune system and/or the regenerative medicine product to improve outcomes of tissue repair and regeneration in patients. The workshop, titled Understanding the Role of the Immune System in Improving Tissue Regeneration, explored the role of the immune system in the success or failure of regenerative medicine therapies. Participants considered potential strategies to effectively prepare patients' immune systems to accept regenerative therapies and increase the likelihood of successful clinical outcomes and also discussed risks associated with modulating the immune system. This Proceedings of a Workshop highlights the presentations and discussions that occurred during the workshop.

Valued for its ecological richness and economic value, the U.S. Gulf of Mexico is under substantial pressure from human activities. The Deepwater Horizon platform explosion and oil spill significantly damaged Gulf ecosystems and led to the largest ecological restoration investment in history. The unprecedented number and diversity of restoration activities provide valuable information for future restoration efforts, but assessment efforts are hampered by many factors, including the need to evaluate the interaction of multiple stressors and consider long-term environmental trends such as sea level rise, increasing hurricane intensity, and rising water temperatures. This report offers a comprehensive approach to assess restoration activities beyond the project scale in the face of a changing environment. A main component of this approach is using different types of scientific evidence to develop multiple lines of evidence to evaluate restoration efforts at regional scales and beyond, esp

Over the past century, the work of chemical engineers has helped transform societies and the lives of individuals, from the synthetic fertilizers that helped feed the world to the development of novel materials used in fuels, electronics, medical devices, and other products. Chemical engineers' ability to apply systems-level thinking from molecular to manufacturing scales uniquely positions them to address today's most pressing problems, including climate change and the overuse of resources by a growing population. New Directions in Chemical Engineering details a vision to guide chemical engineering research, innovation, and education over the next few decades. This report calls for new investments in U.S. chemical engineering and the interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaborations necessary to advance the societal goals of transitioning to a low-carbon energy system, ensuring our production and use of food and water is sustainable, developing medical advances and engineering solutions

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has played a key role over the past several decades in advancing understanding of Earth's systems by funding research on atmospheric, ocean, hydrologic, geologic, polar, ecosystem, social, and engineering-related processes. Today, however, those systems are being driven like never before by human technologies and activities. Our understanding has struggled to keep pace with the rapidity and magnitude of human-driven changes, their impacts on human and ecosystem sustainability and resilience, and the effectiveness of different pathways to address those challenges. Given the urgency of understanding human-driven changes, NSF will need to sustain and expand its efforts to achieve greater impact. The time is ripe to create a next-generation Earth systems science initiative that emphasizes research on complex interconnections and feedbacks between natural and social processes. This will require NSF to place an increased emphasis on research inspired by

The U.S. Department of State, through its Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), provides foreign assistance and supports capacity building for criminal justice systems and police organizations in approximately 90 countries around the world. It has a mandate to strengthen fragile states, support democratic transitions, and stabilize conflict-affected societies by helping partner countries develop effective and accountable criminal justice sector institutions and systems. While the science of policing outcomes has grown in recent years, it is limited in context, with much of the research conducted on policing taking place in the Global North countries (e.g., the United Kingdom and United States). It is also limited in purpose, with much research focused on examining crime reduction as opposed to examining the harms to the public as the result of crimes, violence, and any effects of policing activities. At the request of INL, Policing to Promote the Rule of

Much of the statistical information currently produced by federal statistical agencies - information about economic, social, and physical well-being that is essential for the functioning of modern society - comes from sample surveys. In recent years, there has been a proliferation of data from other sources, including data collected by government agencies while administering programs, satellite and sensor data, private-sector data such as electronic health records and credit card transaction data, and massive amounts of data available on the internet. How can these data sources be used to enhance the information currently collected on surveys, and to provide new frontiers for producing information and statistics to benefit American society? Toward a 21st Century National Data Infrastructure: Enhancing Survey Programs by Using Multiple Data Sources, the second report in a series funded by the National Science Foundation, discusses how use of multiple data sources can improve the quality

The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on the lives of children and their families, who have faced innumerable challenges such as illness and death; school closures; social isolation; financial hardship; food insecurity; deleterious mental health effects; and difficulties accessing health care. In almost every outcome related to social, emotional, behavioral, educational, mental, physical, and economic health and well-being, families identifying as Black, Latino, and Native American, and those with low incomes, have disproportionately borne the brunt of the negative effects of the pandemic. The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on children and families will be felt for years to come. While these long-term effects are unknown, they are likely to have particularly significant implications for children and families from racially and ethnically minoritized communities and with low incomes. Addressing the Long-Term Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Children and Families iden

Extreme weather and wildfires, intensified by climate change, are damaging the native plant communities of landscapes across the United States. Native plant communities are foundational to thriving ecosystems, delivering goods and services that regulate the environment and support life, provide food and shelter for a wide range of native animals, and embody a wealth of genetic information with many beneficial applications. Restoring impaired ecosystems requires a supply of diverse native plant seeds that are well suited to the climates, soils, and other living species of the system. This report examines the needs for native plant restoration and other activities, provides recommendations for improving the reliability, predictability, and performance of the native seed supply, and presents an ambitious agenda for action. An Assessment of Native Seed Needs and the Capacity for Their Supply considers the various challenges facing our natural landscapes and calls for a coordinated public-p

The United States has a complex system of laws and policies that attempt to regulate the distribution, manufacture, and use of a variety of non-legal drug substances as part of its overall criminal justice system. Laws regarding drug use have disproportionately impacted individuals and communities of color at every step of the journey through the criminal justice system, including arrest, conviction, sentencing, and incarceration. These disparities have clear outcomes for both individual and community health. To examine the effects of drug control policies on the health of individuals and communities of color, the Roundtable on the Promotion of Health Equity held a workshop on October 8, 2018, in Washington, DC. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions of the workshop.

Heritable disorders of connective tissue (HDCTs) are a diverse group of inherited genetic disorders and subtypes. Because connective tissue is found throughout the body, the impairments associated with HDCTs manifest in multiple body systems and may change or vary in severity throughout an affected individual's lifetime. In some cases, these impairments may be severe enough to qualify an eligible child or adult for monetary benefits through the U.S. Social Security Administration's (SSA's) Social Security Disability Insurance or Supplemental Security Income program. SSA asked the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine to convene an expert committee that would provide current information regarding the diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis of selected HDCTs, including Marfan syndrome and the Ehlers-Danlos syndromes, and the effect of the disorders and their treatment on functioning. The resulting report, Selected Heritable Disorders of Connective Tissue and Disability, p

Despite being preventable and curable since the middle of the twentieth century, tuberculosis (TB) has long persisted as the world's deadliest infectious disease, with the communities most devastated by TB among the poorest and most vulnerable in the world. Only about half of people with TB receive successful treatment each year. As the global threat of antimicrobial resistance continues to escalate, so do cases of drug-resistant TB, or TB that is resistant to various antibiotics that constitute standard treatment regimens. In response, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine's Forum on Microbial Threats held a two-part virtual workshop on July 22 and September 14-16, 2021 titled Innovations for Tackling Tuberculosis in the Time of COVID-19. The aims of the workshop were to evaluate the current status of TB elimination, assess the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global fight against TB, and examine technical and strategic innovations that could be leverage