As Hurricane Katrina so bluntly demonstrated, natural disasters take their heaviest toll on the lives and health of minorities and the poor. David McBride, Ph.D., M.Phil. studies the impact of recent disasters on the health and health care of poor and underserved populations in major U.S. cities. His project, Disasters, Recovery, and Health Care for Disadvantaged Urban Populations, looks at natural disasters and other environmental mishaps of the last 30 years to understand their public health implications. He is particularly interested in how health care systems and public agencies at the state, local, and federal levels respond to such crises and the role of community and civic organizations in providing assistance. Case studies of select cities provide insight into short and long-term health consequences and how communities perceive and interact with those providing aid. The goal is a series of findings that will improve future disaster preparation, response, and recovery efforts.

David McBride is professor of african american studies at Pennsylvania State University. He is also with the Center for Health Care and Policy Research at that institution. Dr. McBride is a graduate of Denison University and completed graduate school at Columbia University. He has received major research grants from the Simon Rifkind Center of the City University of New York and the Rockefeller Foundation. McBride has been a visiting professor at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and Morehouse School of Medicine. Among his books are Integrating the City of Medicine: Blacks in Philadelphia Health Care, 1910-1965; From TB to AIDS: Epidemics Among Urban Blacks Since 1900; and Missions for Science: US Technology and Medicine in America's African World. His current research interests focus on environmental health, ecosystem change, and disadvantaged populations in the US and internationally.