Scott Knowles is a professor at Drexel University and also a faculty research fellow of the Disaster Research Center at the University of Delaware. His work focuses on risk and disaster, with particular interests in modern cities, technology, and public policy. The Disaster Experts: Mastering Risk in Modern America (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011) is his most recent publication cited in his Drexel bio.
This article does not address emergency response. The main focus of this article is the effect of social policy change on public/immigration health.
The hardest thing that they have to deal with is trying to convince uneducated legistalors on topics that can affect millions of lives. The material that seems simple to them must be conveyed in a mundane matter.
A way to improve would be to include more national statistics as it seems very localized with its current content.
Some data that can be collected by audio recordings and geo-locations.
The three quotations that more capture the message of the article are:
"Regardless of the specific national roadmaps, however, nuclear safety has returned to the international stage with a vengence." - I love the use of 'vengence' because it's such a powerful descriptor.
"Numerous case studieshave documented that meaningfully engaging lay communities in decisions... enable greater vigilence and raise confidence about individual emergency preparedness."
"The real challenge of a disaster involving nuclear facilities lies in how to handle the unexpected, unpredictible, utterly novel, and barely intelligible chain of events unfolding in real time."
Sheri Fink conducted an interview with one of the doctors who worked at the Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. She also interviewed people affected by the disaster.
This article has been referenced in 16+ anthropological papers on PMC. Most of the references are for papers that deal with references for HIV in urban communities.
Doctors Without Borders comes with a unique aspect of non-bias for the people they give care. Just as a hospital should have no bias, MSF has no religious affiliation, pays no attention to social classes and does not participate in political battles. This lack of bias allows for the most effect when administering emergency patient care.