The September 11 tragedy. Hurricane Katrina. The Boston Marathon bombing. These are just a few of the numerous cases Harvard Professor Susan Briggs has personally handled as Director of the International Trauma and Disaster Institute at Massachusetts General Hospital.

The 23rd Sino-Luso International Medical Forum in Macau from January 31 to February 2 2015 will be discussing these and other current topics.

Titled “Managing Complex Disasters: Lessons Learned,” the academic program for this 3-day forum is chaired by the Macau University of Science and Technology: Faculty of Health Sciences and organized by the Macau Healthcare Management and Promotion Association (MHMPA).

Comments Professor Manson Fok, President of the Sino-Luso International Medical Forum, “Our longstanding forum is committed to developing quality healthcare training programs in the preparedness and response for major incidents and disasters through collaborative partnerships programs within our local healthcare institutions and overseas strategic partners.”

Professor Briggs is bringing along her first-rate medical rescue team to Macau’s frontline medical providers. Chief among our presenters is the highly respected Dr. Roy Alson, Medical Director for North Carolina State Office of EMS Disaster Medical Response System. Dr. Alston will also give insights about the current deadly outbreaks of the Ebola virus. Based in North Carolina, Dr. Alson is also an Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Director of the Office of Pre-hospital and Disaster Medicine at Wake Forest.

This strong delegation also includes nursing experts from Massachusetts General Hospital, Ms. Lin-Ti Chang. Ms. Chang will present on the topic of Evaluation of Mass Casualty Incident and Responses to Disasters.

Experts from Hong Kong will also present at the forum. They include Dr. Jimmy Chan, the President of the Hong Kong Association for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine. Dr. Chow Yuk-Yin, the founding Vice-President of the Hong Kong Association for Conflict and Catastrophe Medicine will conduct workshops in the area of Extremity Injuries. Dr. Chow is also the former President of the Hong Kong College of Orthopedic Surgeons.

The US and HK teams will also give an overview of what prevention measures they have learned from contamination of the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown and the rescue missions of the Si-chuan earthquake. They will also be running competency-based skills training workshops with collective approaches. These drills and exercises are based upon likely scenarios. Moreover, they assess different situations in disaster medicine.

Explains Prof. Fok, “Disasters, whether is natural or man-made, we are all aware that they are on the increase internationally, and also in our region—including typhoons and radiation scares. This forum is an opportunity to develop networks and lines of communication to foster relationship with our medical partners in China and this region and to sustain our regional emergency preparedness efforts.”

Experts from Philippines will also explain about “Disaster Medicine,” with insight to the spate of “Super Typhoons” that have struck in the past few years. They include two Lieutenant Colonels of the Armed Forces of the Philippines Reserved Command , Dr. Abraham Bayan and Dr. Evelyn Gusi. Professor Tomas Monteverde, the former President of Philippines College of Surgeons, Davao Chapter, is also joining their delegation.

This significant event is supported by the National Health and Family Planning Commission NHFPC (formerly the Ministry of Health of PRC), the Chinese Medical Doctors Association as well as a list of outstanding healthcare organizations and Portuguese speaking associations here in Macau.