Sarita Chung, MD is the Director of Disaster Preparedness in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Assistant Professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Board certified in pediatrics and pediatric emergency medicine, Dr. Chung’s expertise covers all aspects of pediatric emergency preparedness and response, including advocacy, research, education, and clinical care. In her role as the current vice-chair of the AAP Council on Children and Disasters, she has collaborated with federal partners and nongovernmental organizations to include the needs of children and their families throughout the disaster cycle. She previously served on the FEMA National Advisory Council and currently is the Co-Lead for EMSC EIIC Disaster domain as well as the MA EMSC Advisory Council Chair. In terms of her research, Dr. Chung published one of the first post-9/11 articles, examining the efficacy of web-based training in bioterrorism. Dr. Chung was the principal investigator of an EMSC Targeted Issue grant to develop a novel image based family reunification system which proved to be effective and led to the development of the AAP Family Reunification Following Disasters: A Planning Tool for Health Care Facilities. Her research has also included the effects of the H1N1 pandemic influenza on pediatric emergency departments, alternate care sites and laboratory testing as well as developing and testing educational curriculum for pediatric disaster preparedness for clinicians and public health professionals. She is the lead author on the AAP policy statement Chemical-Biological Terrorism and Its Impact on Children. In terms of education, Dr. Chung is a nationally recognized lecturer on pediatric aspects of disaster preparedness, having presented at federally sponsored workshops and national meetings on disaster topics including family reunification, mass casualty events and caring for children in disasters. Most importantly she and her husband Howard are the proud (but tired) parents of 3 children (19, 16, and 8).
