Brooke Courtney, JD, MPH, is an Associate at the Center for Biosecurity of UPMC. Ms. Courtney’s research focuses on public health and hospital preparedness, legal preparedness and response, mass dispensing of medical countermeasures, and crisis standards of care. She is an Associate Editor of the peer-reviewed journal, Biosecurity and Bioterrorism: Biodefense Strategy, Practice, and Science, and Editor of the journal’s Legal Perspectives column, which provides analyses of legal issues associated with health emergencies.

Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Courtney served as Director of the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response for the Baltimore City Health Department, where she provided oversight of the agency’s response to public health emergencies. Her responsibilities included managing U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Public Health Emergency Preparedness grant funding; drafting and implementing City plans for pandemic influenza, anthrax, and other emergencies; developing drills and exercises; coordinating the City’s healthcare coalition and integrating hospitals into City response systems; coordinating the development of a public-private partnership for mass dispensing and a plan for first responder prophylaxis; overseeing biosurveillance activities; responding to emergencies and preparing for planned large scale events; collaborating with local and state health departments; and representing the agency in the City emergency operations center and on various emergency planning committees, including the Mayor’s Joint Executive Committee, Metropolitan Medical Response System (MMRS), and Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

Prior to her tenure with Baltimore City, Ms. Courtney worked on surge capacity and pandemic influenza planning as a Law and Policy Analyst with the Center for Health and Homeland Security. She has also worked as a Law Fellow for the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and for the Public Health Division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the General Counsel, as well as a Law Clerk in the Health Fraud Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore. In addition, Ms. Courtney has worked on international relations and disaster response at the American Red Cross national headquarters; on tobacco control, obesity, and health disparities issues; and at the Maryland Health Care Commission and Pfizer, Inc.

Ms. Courtney received her JD and Certificate in Health Law from the University of Maryland School of Law and is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia and in Maryland. She received her MPH from Yale University and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, where she received her BA in anthropology. Ms. Courtney currently serves as Co-Chair of the Yale Alumni Service Corps, which provides international volunteer service opportunities for Yale alumni.