UCSF Responds to Harvey by Activating Global Disaster Assistance Committee

As the rain from tropical depression Harvey continues to fall on the Gulf Coast, UC San Francisco is activating a committee to consider what responses may be appropriate for UCSF to take in aiding in the aftermath of the storm.

“Harvey has been a devastating storm, with numerous lives lost, extensive damage and the continued challenge for health care facilities to administer routine and emergency services,” said UCSF Chancellor Sam Hawgood, MBBS. “Our sympathies go out to those in Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi affected by the storm and for all of our UCSF community who may have family, friends or colleagues in the area.”

In response to the storm, UCSF has convened its Global Disaster Assistance Committee, which grew out of the successful Ebola Task Force formed in 2014. It is the first time the committee has been officially convened to respond to a natural disaster.

The charge to the committee is to support UCSF’s faculty, staff and trainees in providing global disaster assistance globally that is in alignment with the guiding principles of responsiveness, respect and expertise.

The committee will meet this week and will weigh what may be appropriate for UCSF in aiding in the aftermath of Harvey. As any requests for assistance are received in the following weeks, the committee may release recommendations about how the UCSF community can contribute.

Associate Chancellor Terri O’Brien, PhD, and George Rutherford III, MD, Vice Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, are co-chairs of the 21-person Global Disaster Assistance Committee.

The University of California system also has responded to the hurricane by standing ready with health care and emergency resources should they be requested.

The full statement from UC about its response to Harvey is available on Facebook »