Posted by: Andrew Lavelle; 28 March 2016; 12:47 pm
Dr. Gebbie, DrPH, RN holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in nursing (St. Olaf College, Minnesota; and University of California, Los Angeles), and a doctorate in public health (University of Michigan School of Public Health). She currently resides in Adelaide, South Australia, where she has adjunct faculty appointments at both Flinders University’s Torrens Resilience Institute and the University of Adelaide School of Nursing. Her long career has included positions in clinical nursing, hospital management, academia, and the public sector. Faculty appointments culminated in the Elizabeth Standish Gill Professorship at Columbia University School of Nursing, followed by appointment as Dean of the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing, Hunter College, City University of New York. Prior to those positions she directed the public health agencies for two states (Oregon and Washington), and established the AIDS Policy Office in the Clinton White House.
Dr. Gebbie’s interest in disaster preparedness, response, and recovery is grounded in her extensive work to bring the public health community and the wider emergency response community into effective collaboration, particularly following the anthrax bio-terrorism event in the United States. She has worked with federal, state and local colleagues from multiple health disciplines to develop guidelines on practical emergency preparedness plans for public health agencies, clinics and medical offices, guidance on adapting care under emergency conditions, and courses on emergency preparedness for all levels of health workers. She continues this work in Australia, where she also participates in research on disaster resilience at family and community levels. Her work has been published in nursing, medical, public health and emergency preparedness journals, both in the US and internationally. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing, and a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine.