The Wayne State University Department of Emergency Medicine sent several faculty members and students to Thiruvalla, India, for the first International Conference on Awareness, Preparedness, Response, Recovery and Resilience in Disaster Management. The four-day global event, Unfolding Newer Innovations for Tomorrow’s Emergencies and Disasters (UNITED’24), was a collaborative effort involving Wayne State University, Johns Hopkins University, George Washington University and Believers Church Medical College Hospital in Kerala, India.
Representatives from the Wayne State University School of Medicine included Vijaya Kumar, M.D., Ph.D.; Marc Rosenthal, Ph.D., D.O.; Keith Alangaden, M.D., of the Department of Emergency Medicine; Trini Mathew, M.D., of the Department of Internal Medicine; and fourth-year medical student Kelsey Trulik. The team played an instrumental role in the conference’s planning and execution. Members contributed as speakers, facilitators and organizers while fostering collaboration across global institutions.
The conference, held Nov. 14-17, attracted more than 400 participants and featured 30 speakers from the United States, India and Australia. Sessions included lectures, panel discussions, small-group exercises and a large-scale disaster simulation drill.
Day one of the conference covered foundational topics, including defining disasters, building individual resilience led by Dr. Mathew; climate change impacts, mass casualty triage ethics, led by Dr. Kumar; and disaster preparedness and risk reduction.
The second day featured firsthand accounts from first responders of the 2018 Kerala floods and Nepal earthquake, sessions on disaster ethics, hospital surge capacity and emergency medical training, led by Drs. Rosenthal and Alangaden.
Day three explored communicable diseases, led by Dr. Mathew; and non-communicable diseases, mental health, geriatric and palliative care, trauma, health equity, setting up command centers and organizing disaster response teams, with sessions led by Dr. Rosenthal.
The conference concluded on day four with a mass casualty mock drill organized by Drs. Rosenthal and Alangaden. The drill simulated a building collapse, with 50 volunteers acting as victims, emphasizing triage, ambulance transport, hospital readiness and clinical management.
A consensus meeting organized by the WSU team at the end of the four-day event with local stakeholders, including physicians, administrators, state health machinery, first responders and bureaucrats, concentrated on areas that required focus and next steps in developing the center as a regional hub for disaster preparedness.
Initial survey feedback was overwhelmingly positive. Participants expressed high satisfaction, noting that the conference expanded their knowledge, boosted their confidence in handling disasters and provided actionable insights for their work.
The WSU team also embraced Kerala’s rich culture through cuisine, dance, music and meaningful conversations. These experiences deepened their collaboration with Believers Church Medical College Hospital, fostering connections that will drive future efforts in disaster management education and preparedness.
