Episode 74: Pandemic Preparedness

Another pandemic will happen. When it does, will we be prepared? What are we doing to make certain that we are?

Our guest is the Director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. Hear about what is being done to facilitate and improve our ability to face another pandemic.

Guest:

 

"Major General (ret) Paul Friedrichs, MD, FACS, Deputy Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR)"

 

Major General (ret) Paul Friedrichs, Inaugural Director of OPPR and Principal Advisor on Pandemic Preparedness and Response

 

Major General Friedrichs is currently Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council (NSC). Prior to joining the NSC, Dr. Friedrichs most recently served as the Joint Staff Surgeon and the medical advisor to the Department of Defense (DoD) COVID-19 Task Force. Throughout his career he has worked closely with Federal, State, Tribal, local, and territorial government partners, as well as industry and academic counterparts and has been active in multiple professional medical societies. Dr. Friedrichs has also overseen the DoD global patient evacuation system, supporting global medical care and numerous interagency domestic and global disaster responses. He led the DoD Task Force which developed plans to implement high reliability medical principles across DoD and stood up the Air Force’s first medical analytics capabilities. Over the course of his 37-year career, he has led military hospitals and regional and global health care systems, published multiple medical papers, and consistently sought opportunities to partner with colleagues to improve health care delivery and preparedness. As the United States’ representative to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Committee of Military Medical Chiefs, he worked closely with many of America’s closest allies and partners throughout the pandemic and in developing medical support to the Ukrainian military.

 

Dr. Friedrichs is a board-certified physician who has cared for hundreds of patients in combat and managed broad domestic and global public health threats. He has spent all of his career in public service, having first received his commission through Reserve Officer Training Corps in 1986 and rising to Major General in 2023.

During This Episode We Discuss:

 

Overview of the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy

What are the goals for the office

How will  the office function

How will the office coordinate with state health agencies, health delivery systems, medication manufacturers , support and personal protective device manufacturers, research and  testing facilities?

The importance of a robust Public Health System. How does a public health system integrate into the office's response policy?

What can the office do to facilitate a functioning national,regional and local deployment of response teams?

How can we speak to the public, ie messaging about the science of pandemic causation, diagnosis, containment and treatment strategies without the politicalization that occurred with the Covid pandemic?

What recommendations and routines does the Air Force use to keep it’s personnel healthy?