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Catherine Rooney, M.S. |
Professional Biography
Currently project director for the National Institute on Disability Rehabilitation Research awarded research project assessing the impact of Hurricane Katrina on persons with disabilities, Catherine “Cat” Rooney also has served as project coordinator for a Centers for Disease Control awarded research grant Nobody Left Behind: Preparedness for Persons with Mobility Impairments. For this project, Rooney authored and co-authored numerous briefing papers; executive summaries; and reports on research, policy development, and programs. In addition, the American Red Cross and Federal Emergency Management Administration invited her to serve as an expert advisor on education and training for emergency managers, community-based providers, and persons with disabilities on disaster preparedness and emergency response for persons with disabilities. Her experience includes 13 years in the public health field at the state-level as a section chief for the training, credentialing, and regulation of five allied health care professions and advisor to the Legislature and Secretary of Health and Environment on consumer protection and allied health credentialing, and health and environmental planner. Under Rooney’s leadership her section established training and educational programs for various allied health occupations, an automated credentialing process, and an award- winning statewide nurse aide registry as noted by the Federal Health and Human Services Department in Citations for Excellence for Design and Management of the Kansas Nurse Registry. Rooney, too, was executive director of the Volunteer Connection, a nonprofit consultant in financial and personnel management.
Research Interests
Besides emergency preparation for people with disabilities, Rooney has research interests in health, safety and consumer protection as related to underserved and populations; pandemic planning; and national, local, and international human and disability rights. Recently, Rooney led a panel for the 2005 conference sponsored by Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health that developed first-time, peer consensus recommendations and standards for disability-related preparedness and response in disasters and terrorism.