2026 Disaster Planning Conference Resources

Emerging infectious disease threats continue to evolve, challenging health care and public health professionals to look beyond what we know today and consider what may be on the horizon. This session will explore recent developments and emerging trends in infectious disease, including advances in synthetic biology and other issues shaping the global health landscape. Drawing on data and developments at the local, state, national and international levels, attendees will gain insight into the signals experts are watching and what they may mean for future health care preparedness.

James Lawler, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Associate Director, Global Health Center for Health Security
University of Nebraska Medical Center

Dr. James Lawler is Associate Director of the Global Center for Health Security, Deputy Medical Director for the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, and Professor of Medicine in Infectious Disease at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Dr. Lawler’s career has focused on emerging infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness, and global health. He previously served in national biodefense and health security policy positions in the White House during the Bush and Obama administrations, research positions at the US Military Research Institute for Infectious Diseases and the Naval Medical Research Center, and as Chief Medical Officer for the NIAID Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick. Dr. Lawler’s operational experience includes evacuation of American citizens from the cruise ship Diamond Princess quarantined for COVID-19 in Yokohama, Japan; multiple viral hemorrhagic fever outbreaks in Africa; humanitarian relief on the hospital ship USNS Comfort; and the NATO Role 3 Multinational Medical Unit in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He retired from the US Navy Medical Corps in 2017 after 21 years of active service.

This presentation examines how seismic readiness for California hospitals is evolving beyond traditional compliance-focused approaches toward a broader operational resilience framework for 2030 and beyond. While SPC and NPC standards address important structural and nonstructural requirements, hospitals face increasing operational complexity and infrastructure dependency that extend far beyond regulatory mandates. Modern health care operations rely on interconnected systems including emergency power, HVAC, water supply, medical gas, communications, information technology, supply chains, and clinical operations that must continue functioning under highly degraded and uncertain conditions during major seismic events.

Narsimha Irrinki, MS, P.E., CHFM, CHC, CPE, CPD, FASHE
Director, Facilities
Santa Clara Healthcare

Narsimha Irrinki is a health care facilities executive with 30+ years’ experience. At Santa Clara Valley Healthcare, he oversees operations, compliance, infrastructure, safety, construction, and emergency management across hospitals and clinics, serving as a Joint Commission Life Safety Code Surveyor.

Muhsin Lihony, AIA
National Director of Healthcare Practice
LPA, Inc.

Muhsin Lihony is National Director of Healthcare Practice at LPA, Inc. With more than 30 years of experience, he creates high-performing, cost-effective health care environments that improve care and efficiency. He leads LPA’s national practice, developing innovative care models and guiding projects from planning and design through construction and operations.

Ali Sumer, Ph.D, S.E.
Supervisor, Seismic Compliance Unit
Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI)

As a structural engineer, Ali Sumer has nine years of experience in the private sector and twelve years in government. Currently, he manages the hospital seismic retrofit program at HCAI, where he also contributes to the HCAI Emergency Operations Center during disasters. He serves on several code committees and previously served as president of SEAOC Central.

This presentation explores how City of Hope developed a coordinated, technology-enabled building assessment process to support rapid decision-making during large-scale emergency events. Attendees will learn how to create multidisciplinary strike teams, assess infrastructure damage, life safety concerns, and operational readiness across a complex health care campus. The session highlights the use of real-time reporting tools to improve situational awareness and communication with incident command. Designed for health care emergency management, facilities, and safety leaders, the approach emphasizes scalability and coordination. Participants will gain practical strategies to strengthen resilience and ensure continuity of patient care during disasters.

Ashraf Amshaqn, MSc
Manager of Biological and Laboratory Safety
City of Hope National Medical Center

Ashraf Amshaqn is Manager of Biological and Laboratory Safety at City of Hope National Medical Center, leading biosafety and laboratory safety programs supporting research and clinical operations. He serves on the Institutional Biosafety Committee and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, with expertise in program development, laboratory safety, and regulatory compliance.

Chris Martin
Business Continuity Manager
City of Hope National Medical Center

Chris Martin has 26 years of experience in operational resilience, specializing in business continuity, enterprise risk, crisis and emergency management, and IT disaster recovery. He has led global programs across health care, finance, manufacturing, transportation, and entertainment, building and strengthening resilience while partnering with executives to improve preparedness and results.

Scott Murphy, MBA
Director of Construction
City of Hope National Medical Center

Scott Murphy is Director of Construction at City of Hope National Medical Center. Previously, he held leadership roles at City of Hope and UCLA, managing hospital, research, instructional, and infrastructure projects in active campus environments. He builds collaborative teams across planning, operations, finance, compliance, and project management to deliver practical, mission-aligned solutions.

Mark Reed, MBA, CHPA
Executive Director of Security, Emergency Management, and Transportation
City of Hope

Mark Reed is Executive Director of Security, Emergency Management, and Transportation at City of Hope. Previously, he served as Director of Support Services at MLK Jr. Community Healthcare. A Board-Certified Healthcare Protection Administrator, he is also an adjunct professor at Concordia University and a nationally recognized leader in health care security, safety, and operations.

Sidney Spacher
Emergency Management Specialist
City of Hope National Medical Center

Sidney Spacher is an Emergency Management Specialist at City of Hope National Medical Center, specializing in health care preparedness, disaster response, training, exercises, and regulatory compliance. She supports hospital, public health, and local government programs, with interests in resilience, incident command, evacuation planning, and continuity of operations.

Nuclear detonation is a high impact scenario that is the least planned for and exercised for health and medical impacts. Multiagency coordination for response within the first 72 hours will have multiple unique characteristics. Readiness can save thousands of lives and protect lives of many others while ensuring the safety of responders and receivers. Attendees will learn about data and information needs for medical and health decision making, mass triage and medical surge management, and connect with experts from national, state and local response agencies. Please join us to learn how your organization or jurisdiction can access resources for training and exercising to be better prepared for nuclear and other radiological emergencies.

Juan Garcia
Associate Health Physicist
California Department of Public Health’s Radiologic Health Branch

Juan Garcia is an Associate Health Physicist with California’s Radiologic Health Branch. His experience includes x-ray inspection, environmental radiation monitoring, nuclear facility decommissioning, radiological surveys, sampling, dose and risk assessment, and nuclear plant monitoring. He now leads statewide radiological emergency planning, serves as California’s FEMA ROSS Coordinator, and provides radiation training.

Chad Hopponen
NARAC Operations Specialist
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Chad Hopponen is a Certified Health Physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory with nearly 30 years of experience. As a Regional Coordinator for DOE’s Nuclear Emergency Support Team, RAP7, he trains personnel and strengthens preparedness and interoperability among partner agencies responding to radiological or nuclear incidents. His career began in the 1990s with the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program.

Andrea (Andi) Tenner, MD, MPH, FACEP
Director, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health

Andrea (Andi) Tenner is board-certified in emergency and internal medicine. She directs Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response for San Francisco, teaches emergency medicine at UCSF, and practices at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Her expertise includes disaster preparedness, crisis leadership, health-system resilience, and hospital management of nuclear detonations.

Health care facilities in California play a vital role in early recognition and coordinated responses to potential weapons of mass destruction (WMD) incidents. This session presents a real-world case in which a suspicious white powder was delivered to a hospital, prompting activation of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) and a coordinated response with local EMS, fire/HazMat teams, public health, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Calvin Fakkema
Executive Director of Facilities & Support Services
Rady Children’s Health – Orange County

Calvin Fakkema has over 21 years of health care leadership experience spanning facilities, safety, security, emergency management, workplace violence prevention, and support services. As Executive Director of Facilities & Support Services at Rady Children’s Health Orange County, he leads hospital operations, infrastructure, regulatory readiness, emergency preparedness, security, safety, and continuity planning.

Christopher Riccardi, CHSP, CHEP
Manager of Emergency Management and Business Continuity
Rady Children’s Hospital of Orange County

Christopher Riccardi manages Emergency Management and Business Continuity at Rady Children’s Hospital of Orange County, leading preparedness, response, recovery, and continuity programs. He chairs the Southern California Pediatric Disaster Coalition and Orange County Health Care Coalition Hospital Advisory Committee, and co-chairs SHARE, strengthening pediatric disaster collaboration.

Jason To
Special Agent
FBI, Los Angeles Division

FBI Special Agent Jason To serves with the Los Angeles Division’s Counterterrorism Critical Incident Response Teams as a WMD Coordinator. He leads WMD assessments, investigations, emergency preparedness, and crisis response. Previously, he led a Transnational Organized Crime Task Force and served as an FBI, Defensive Tactics, and Active Shooter Response Instructor.

What is Boombox Bingo?
Boombox Bingo transforms the traditional bingo experience by replacing numbers with beloved songs on a digital bingo card. The Bingo host will play snippets of songs, and you will mark off the corresponding song title on your digital card. Players will have one card per playlist with three chances to win: single-and double-line games, followed by blackout and our Bingo host will guide us through the process.

There will be three chances to win prizes!

• $25 VISA gift card
• $25 Target gift card
• $25 Fandango Movie gift card

You can access your bingo card at events.boomboxbingo.com. Once the game starts, the host will announce the access code. Have fun!

This presentation provides a practical incident review of lithium-ion battery fires in hospitals and outpatient health care settings. It highlights the coordinated response between hospital personnel, fire departments, hazardous materials teams, and regulatory agencies, while emphasizing the need to sustain patient care and hospital operations. The session translates real-world events into actionable lessons for emergency preparedness, business continuity, regulatory reporting, staff education, and safe management of battery-powered equipment. Attendees will gain insight into response priorities, operational impacts, and improvement opportunities that can strengthen organizational readiness for emerging lithium-ion battery fire risks in health care environments.

Ryan Tuchmayer, MPH, CEM
Director, Emergency Management
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Ryan Tuchmayer is Director of Emergency Management at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, leading emergency preparedness and response. He serves as Co-PI for the Region 9 Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center and co-leads the Westend Disaster Resource Center, coordinating preparedness among hospitals, clinics, and pre-hospital providers across western Los Angeles County.

Hospitals in high-risk areas must be prepared for hazardous materials incidents, yet building and sustaining a HazMat program can feel overwhelming. This session shares how one hospital went from zero certified responders to a scalable, countywide training model through Health Care Coalition partnerships and shared learning. Attendees will learn practical, low-cost tools such as QR code job aids, simplified decontamination setups, and multidisciplinary training approaches that can be implemented immediately. Presenters will also highlight how simulation enhancements and HSEEP-based improvement cycles strengthened performance year over year. Leave with real-world strategies to build, sustain, and continuously improve HazMat readiness at your facility.

Janet Gutierrez, CHSP, MBA(c)
Manager of Environmental Health and Safety
NorthBay Health

Janet Gutierrez is Manager of Environmental Health and Safety at NorthBay Health, overseeing safety programs across multiple facilities. Previously, she led Emergency Management and Environment of Care at Sutter Delta Medical Center, coordinating preparedness, regulatory readiness, exercises, health care coalition activities, and agency partnerships.

Ruth Raisner, MPH, CEM
Manager, Emergency Management & Continuity
NorthBay Health

Ruth Raisner is Emergency Manager for NorthBay Health System, leading its Emergency Management Program. With more than a decade of experience, she develops response plans, provides training, and coordinates exercises to strengthen readiness, patient care, and interagency collaboration. She has supported COVID-19, wildfire, and PSPS activations and led full-scale, multi-jurisdictional exercises focused on community engagement.

Effective disaster planning is essential for maintaining continuity of care, safeguarding infrastructure, and protecting patient and staff well‑being across all health care settings. Rural hospitals and large urban medical centers face distinct challenges during disasters, yet both require coordinated, scalable, and resilient preparedness strategies. Rural hospitals often operate with limited staff, fewer specialty services, and constrained resources, making surge capacity and external partnerships crucial components of their planning. In contrast, large hospitals manage more complex patient populations, extensive technological systems, and larger care teams, requiring comprehensive incident command structures, advanced communication networks, and integrated regional response plans. The presentation will revolve around the key differences and shared priorities in disaster preparedness across rural and large hospitals, emphasizing flexible planning frameworks, inter‑facility collaboration, and continuous training to strengthen system-wide resilience.

Dorita Ann Sondereker, RN, BSN, MSN, CEN, CFRN, CMTE, TCRN
Hospital Administrator
San Diego County Psychiatric Hospital

Dorita Ann Sondereker was the Administrative Director of Emergency Services at Sunrise Hospital during the Route 91 Festival Massacre. She oversaw a 90-bed emergency department, Level II trauma center, rapid response team, and 33-bed behavioral health unit. The 1,000-bed hospital was Nevada’s busiest ER, handling 177,000+ annual visits, 44,000 EMS offloads, and 3,000+ trauma cases.

This presentation reviews the hospital’s response to the April 21, 2026, National Weather Service tornado warning, highlighting key strengths in rapid shelter in place actions, leadership engagement, and a strong culture of safety that resulted in no injuries and positive family feedback. It examines critical lessons learned related to communication breakdowns, including inconsistent messaging pathways, reliance on coded language, and gaps in system reliability that led to confusion across departments. The session also emphasizes the importance of early activation of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS), clear role definition, and improved familiarity with all-hazards response plans. Finally, it outlines targeted improvements to strengthen future response efforts, including standardized plain language communication, enhanced notification processes, improved staff education, and more structured and timely command activation.

Ashley Ave, MA
Emergency Management Coordinator
Valley Children’s Healthcare

Ashley Ave began her career at Valley Children’s Healthcare in 2000, focusing on Clinical and Patient/Family Education. Since 2014, she has served as Emergency Management Coordinator, overseeing emergency management activities across the health care network. She equips leaders and teams for all emergency management phases and serves on regional preparedness committees.

AnnJeanette England, RN, BSN
Emergency Management Coordinator
Valley Children’s Hospital

AnnJeanette England is an Emergency Management Coordinator at Valley Children’s Hospital in California’s Central Valley. With nearly 20 years of health care leadership experience, she has worked in emergency nursing, trauma, case management, quality improvement, and preparedness. She leads initiatives that strengthen situational awareness, communication, coordination, and community partnerships.

This presentation provides an overview of the foundational elements of health care emergency management, including the role of the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) in establishing a structured, scalable response, the importance of conducting Hazard Vulnerability Analyses (HVAs) to prioritize risks and inform planning, as well as the essential components of an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) to guide coordinated action during incidents. Additionally, it underscores the critical role of training, drills, and continuous improvement in maintaining regulatory compliance and organizational readiness, Lastly, the presentation includes key resources to assist new emergency management coordinators with their professional development.

Mark Shirley, MS, CSP, CHMM
Senior Director of Emergency Management and Environmental Health & Safety
Sutter Health

For more than 30 years, Mark Shirley has advanced emergency management and environmental health and safety across Sutter Health. As Senior Director, he leads systemwide preparedness, regulatory compliance, safety operations, risk reduction, and EM and EH&S strategy. A respected health care safety leader, Mark has served on influential national and statewide committees.

Pediatric populations present unique vulnerabilities during disasters that require deliberate planning, specialized resources, and targeted training strategies. This presentation examines key pediatric considerations in disaster response, with a focus on developing programs that address the functional and access needs of children, including those with medical complexity, developmental differences, and dependency on caregivers. The session will highlight practical approaches for integrating pediatric-specific functional needs into hospital and community emergency preparedness programs, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration and alignment with regulatory and accreditation standards. Strategies for meaningfully involving children and pediatric stakeholders in drills and exercises will be discussed, including age-appropriate engagement methods that enhance preparedness, reduce fear, and improve system performance.

Ashley Ave, MA
Emergency Management Coordinator
Valley Children’s Healthcare

Ashley Ave began her career at Valley Children’s Healthcare in 2000, focusing on Clinical and Patient/Family Education. Since 2014, she has served as Emergency Management Coordinator, overseeing emergency management activities across the health care network. She equips leaders and teams for all emergency management phases and serves on regional preparedness committees.

AnnJeanette England, RN, BSN
Emergency Management Coordinator
Valley Children’s Hospital

AnnJeanette England is an Emergency Management Coordinator at Valley Children’s Hospital in California’s Central Valley. With nearly 20 years of health care leadership experience, she has worked in emergency nursing, trauma, case management, quality improvement, and preparedness. She leads initiatives that strengthen situational awareness, communication, coordination, and community partnerships.

Can You Hear Me Now? Lessons from the Palisades Fire

This session delivers a blueprint for frontline facilities to overcome this systemic failure by deploying predictive spatial analytics via ArcGIS Pro. This workshop asks the question of how hospital centers can best overlay regional pediatric DHH demographic data directly against fast-moving wildfires to forecast and mitigate communication barriers before patients arrive. Attendees will receive a toolkit designed for immediate integration into the Hospital Incident Command System (HICS) Operations and Logistics sections, which includes an accessible, non-audible intake matrix, visual triage checklists, and pediatric DHH family reunification protocols designed to function during emergencies.

Anjay Parthasarathy
Homestead High School Senior
Emergency Evacuation Committee Lead, Santa Clara County Office of Education

Anjay Parthasarathy serves as the Emergency Evacuation Committee Lead with the Santa Clara County Office of Education. He spearheads efforts to modernize emergency protocols and develop visual evacuation tools that preserve route awareness for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing youth. Anjay also researches atmospheric science prediction models and explores accessible solutions to improve disaster communication.

HBEDS: Official Launch, Onboarding, and Next Steps

Derek Gitmed, MS,
Program Manager, Intelligence Section Chief,
California Department of Public Health

Kate McHugh
Project Manager
California Department of Public Health

Kate McHugh is a project manager for the Center for Preparedness and Response at the California Department of Public Health. Among other projects, she is the lead project manager for the Hospital Bed and EMS Data System (HBEDS) that is housed within the Center for Preparedness and Response’s Intelligence Hub.

Violence against health care workers has been increasing worldwide in recent years. Health care facilities must balance worker safety and create welcoming environments for patients, and this has become increasingly more difficult. If those safety measures fail and tragedy happens, how would your facility handle the response? In this presentation, speakers will discuss a real-world example and how emergency management, hospital, and clinic operations joined forces to rapidly support staff in need, shore up safety procedures, and start to rebuild trust. Attendees will leave with a better understanding of the challenges and potential solutions to better prepare their respective workplaces in the event tragedy strikes.

Sabrina N. Robinson, FACHE, MBA
Chief Operating Officer
Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital (ZSFG)

Sabrina N. Robinson is Chief Operating Officer at ZSFG. She oversees Imaging and Radiology, Capital Planning with a portfolio exceeding $500 million, and Support Services. She collaborates with SFHN Rehabilitation Services, Materials Management, and the UCSF Clinical Laboratory. Sabrina co-sponsors the ZSFG Workplace Safety Committee and co-chairs the DPH Operational Security and Safety Committee.

Andrea (Andi) Tenner, MD, MPH, FACEP
Director, Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response City and County of San Francisco Department of Public Health

Andrea (Andi) Tenner is board-certified in emergency and internal medicine. She directs Public Health Emergency Preparedness and Response for San Francisco, teaches emergency medicine at UCSF, and practices at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital. Her expertise includes disaster preparedness, crisis leadership, health-system resilience, and hospital management of nuclear detonations.

This presentation explores how large-scale health care cyber exercises are designed and used to strengthen organizational resilience during IT outages and cyberattacks. It highlights key components of scenario-based simulations, including cross-functional coordination, leadership decision-making, and business continuity planning. Attendees will gain insights from real exercise outcomes and learn practical approaches to building, facilitating, and evaluating cyber preparedness activities, enabling them to enhance response capabilities and apply lessons learned to improve resilience within their own organizations.

Sola Adesida
Executive Director, Enterprise Resilience
Kaiser Permanente

Sola Adesida is Executive Director of Enterprise IT Resilience at Kaiser Permanente, leading disaster preparedness, cyber resilience, business continuity, recovery risk, and crisis management. She strengthens health care systems’ ability to anticipate, withstand, and recover from disruption while safeguarding continuity of care for millions of members.

Mitchell W. Saruwatari
Director of National Emergency Management
Kaiser Permanente

Mitchell W. Saruwatari is Kaiser Permanente’s Director of National Emergency Management, leading emergency preparedness, response, and resilience nationwide. With nearly 30 years in health care, public health, and emergency management, he specializes in incident management, continuity, compliance, and disaster response. He teaches at USC and FEMA’s Center for Domestic Preparedness.