NYC Health + Hospitals Launches Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map to Monitor and Prepare for Outbreaks

NYC Health + Hospitals Launches Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map to Monitor and Prepare for Outbreaks

New interactive map will help healthcare providers screen patients based on their travel history and potential exposure to special pathogens and other biothreats

The public health care system's Biopreparedness Program, established after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, is a national leader in infectious disease preparedness and response

Jan 22, 2026

NYC Health + Hospitals today announced the launch of its Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map, a new interactive, open-source tool that visualizes global outbreak activity to support clinicians, public health officials, and emergency management professionals in identifying and responding to special pathogen threats. In an increasingly interconnected world, a patient's travel history can be the earliest - and one of the most critical - signal of potential exposure to a high-consequence infectious disease. The Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map will provide near real-time information to the public health care system's frontline teams to quickly connect patients' travel histories with current outbreak activity and take the appropriate steps to stop disease transmission. The map's launch builds on NYC Health + Hospitals' nationally recognized special pathogens capacity, including the recent designation of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, Harlem, and Jacobi as National Special Pathogen System Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Centers, which expand the system's ability to safely care for patients with high-consequence infectious diseases.

"This map is a testament to what we've learned about preventing special pathogen transmission," said Dr. Ted Long, Senior Vice President for Ambulatory Care and Population Health at NYC Health + Hospitals. "I want to thank Dr. Madad and NYC Health + Hospitals System Biopreparedness Program for making this tool available for our frontline providers. Transforming global surveillance data into actionable information is a game changer, and will help us to stay a step ahead of future outbreaks."

"Tools like the Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map are only possible because NYC Health + Hospitals has built a strong, systemwide biopreparedness program that connects real-time intelligence to real-world care delivery," said Dr. David Silvestri, System Chief of Care Delivery at NYC Health + Hospitals. "This work strengthens our ability to identify risks early, protect our staff, and ensure patients receive safe, timely care across our entire system."

"Frontline clinicians need fast, reliable situational awareness, especially when a patient's travel history may be the first clue," said Syra Madad, DHSc, MSc, MCP, CHEP, Chief Biopreparedness Officer at NYC Health + Hospitals. "This map brings together outbreak intelligence and practical clinical resources in one place to help healthcare teams identify, isolate, and inform health care and public health teams, protect staff, and ensure patients receive care without delay."

Special pathogens pose a significant risk to healthcare personnel and require specific hospital protocols to ensure early identification and isolation of infected patients, as well as the use of enhanced infection control practices to prevent transmission during evaluation and patient care. The new webpage which accompanies the map includes clinician fact sheets outlining how to identify, isolate, and inform appropriate teams, with guidance on epidemiologic risk factors, infection control measures, and links to local health department contacts. The map monitors current special pathogens and threats, including Ebola, Lassa fever, Marburg virus, Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), H5N1 (bird flu), and Nipah. Multiple trusted data sources provide near real-time information about disease transmission and will be updated routinely as new cases are identified and outbreak designations evolve.

The System Biopreparedness Program operates within NYC Health + Hospitals' Central Office of Biopreparedness and Emergency Management and takes an all-infectious-diseases approach to biological preparedness and response. Established in response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak, the program provides training, resources, and real-time situational awareness tools to support clinicians, public health, and emergency management professionals across the nation's largest municipal healthcare system. The map's launch builds upon recent national recognition of NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, NYC Health + Hospitals/Harlem, and NYC Health + Hospitals/Jacobi as National Special Pathogen System (NSPS) Level 2 Special Pathogen Treatment Centers, further strengthening the public health care system's special pathogens infrastructure. NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue serves as the NSPS Level 1 Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Center for HHS Region 2, covering New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The System Biopreparedness Program regularly conducts emergency preparedness exercises to test system readiness for high-consequence infectious diseases, including recent exercises focused on H5N1 (bird flu), Marburg virus, and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), and recently participated in an international exercise to test the nation's new portable biocontainment unit designed to safely and securely transport patients with highly pathogenic infectious diseases.

If you would like to donate to support the work of the System Biopreparedness Program, please visit our donation page. If you have questions about the program or the Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map, please contact: [email protected].

Public health and clinical leaders from around the country emphasized the Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map's importance in helping translate outbreak signals into practical decision support at the point of care.

"Tools like the Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map are exactly what modern outbreak response requires - real-time intelligence translated into action at the bedside," said Dr. John Brownstein, Professor at Harvard Medical School and Chief Innovation Officer at Boston Children's Hospital. "By integrating global outbreak signals with clinical decision support, this platform helps clinicians connect travel history to risk faster, protect healthcare workers, and reduce delays in care. This is the same philosophy that has guided HealthMap from the beginning-making outbreak data actionable for public health and frontline medicine."

"In our interconnected world, a disease spreading overseas can quickly become an outbreak here at home," said Chris Moore, Executive Director of Global Health Advocacy at the United Nations Foundation. "Better tools for disease monitoring like the Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map are critical to help clinicians stay ahead of disease threats emerging around the world so they can keep communities safe and healthy."

"It has rapidly become more difficult, yet never more important for clinicians to stay informed of the emergence and spread of special pathogens," said Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health. "This map will help fill significant knowledge gaps for clinicians, improving our ability to predict and respond to emergencies."

"Preparedness depends on shared, timely, and usable information," said Co-Leads of the NYC Preparedness & Recovery Institute, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, Director of ICAP at Columbia University and Dr. Ayman El-Mohandes, Dean of the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy. "We are eager to support NYC Health + Hospitals in advancing open tools that help keep New Yorkers safe."

"We applaud this exciting new contribution to health security," said Rebecca Katz, PhD MPH, Professor and Director of the Georgetown Center for Global Health Science and Security. "As surveillance systems are strained, this type of resource will be critical for clinicians, enabling them to take informed, rapid action."

"We are delighted that BEACON can contribute near real-time global surveillance data to NYC Health + Hospitals System Biopreparedness Program's critical clinician resource for special pathogens," said Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, Founding Director of BEACON and Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases.

"Preparedness depends on timely, actionable information," said Dr. Dave A. Chokshi, Chair of the Common Health Coalition and former Health Commissioner of New York City. "The Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map translates complex outbreak data into a practical tool for clinicians and public health leaders, strengthening our collective ability to detect and protect."

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About NYC Health + Hospitals
NYC Health + Hospitals is the largest municipal health care system in the nation serving more than a million New Yorkers annually in more than 70 patient care locations across the city's five boroughs. A robust network of outpatient, neighborhood-based primary and specialty care centers anchors care coordination with the system's trauma centers, nursing homes, post-acute care centers, home care agency, and MetroPlusHealth-all supported by 11 essential hospitals. Its diverse workforce of more than 46,000 employees is uniquely focused on empowering New Yorkers, without exception, to live the healthiest life possible. For more information, visit www.nychealthandhospitals.org and stay connected on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.