Resham Patel, MPH
About
Resham Patel is an assistant teaching professor at the University of Washington, with 15 years of local and national experience as a public health professional. She serves as the Director of Practitioner Engagement for the UW Center for Disaster Resilient Communities (CDRC). Resham leads several efforts to advance disaster research, climate resilience, and workforce development, presenting nationally and developing adaptable resources for practitioners across the country.
In her prior role at Public Health – Seattle & King County, Resham collaborated with local and regional partners as she led preparedness training and evaluation efforts, including an assessment of the agency’s COVID-19 response. She has served on several national workgroups including through the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO), where she previously worked as a Senior Analyst.
Resham is a doctoral candidate at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. She has a Master of Public Health degree from Columbia University and is an alumna of the Center for Health Security’s Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Fellowship.
Education
- MPH, Columbia University
- BS, The Pennsylvania State University
Affiliations
Director of Practitioner Engagement, Center for Disaster Resilient CommunitiesFellow, Urban@UW
Co-Chair, EarthLab Innovation Grant Program Review Committee
Mentorship
Available to mentor new Master's students in autumn 2026. Please follow the instructions on the How To Apply page.
DEOHS Students Mentored
Developing and Validating a Trust in Public Health Authorities Scale for Extreme Heat Guidelines
Riley Ann Achtemeier | MS Thesis | 2025 | View
Research
Projects:
The Collaborative on Extreme Heat Events was formed in 2023 with support and coordination from the University of Washington to offer a forum for public health agencies serving the metropolitan areas of Seattle, Portland and Vancouver, BC, to share their experiences and innovations in responding to extreme heat. (https://cdrc.uw.edu/key-initiatives/collaborative-on-extreme-heat-events/)
Examining competencies needed for the existing and future public health preparedness and response workforce in the United States by identifying key themes that can inform competencies that guide educational programs and workforce training for public health workforce preparedness moving forward. (https://cdrc.uw.edu/research/current-projects/)
The Increasing Diversity in and Equitable Access to Applied Learning in Disaster Research Response (IDEAAL DR2) program offers training in environmental and public health disaster research methods and skills for up to 25 advanced graduate students and early career hazards and disaster researchers a year from across the United States. (https://cdrc.uw.edu/education-and-training/applied-learning-fellowships/)
The Seattle Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (SASPER) is a collaboration among the University of Washington (UW), Washington State Department of Health, Public Health–Seattle & King County, the City of Seattle, the non-profit community-based organization Duwamish River Community Coalition (DRCC), and DRCC’s Duwamish Valley Youth Corps that aims to better understand community strengths, needs, and priorities for climate change and disasters in the Duwamish Valley communities of South Park and Georgetown in Seattle. (https://deohs.washington.edu/edge/duwamish-valley-resilience-planning)
Publications
Selected publications
- Developing a Concept of Operations Template to Guide Collaborative Disaster Research Response Between Academic Public Health and Public Health Agencies
- Engaging Local Health Departments in Disaster Research: A Washington State Survey
- Evaluating an equity-focused approach to assess climate resilience and disaster priorities through a community survey