IMSuRT History
International Medical Surgical Response Team
In 1999 Dr. Susan Briggs established and became the first director of International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT).
IMSuRT was established as an emergency response team that on short notice could respond with medical personnel and equipment to provide medical care in disaster settings to U.S. citizens abroad.
The International Medical Surgical Response Team was requested by the Department of State after terrorist bombings of the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
A partnership was formed involving the Departments of State, Department of Health and Human Services and Massachusetts General Hospital to form a highly specialized, quickly deployable international surgical team. Massachusetts General Hospital had been involved with the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) since 1991 and was the only trauma hospital in 1999 sponsoring an IMSuRT.
The inaugural deployment of IMSuRT was September 11, 2001. Two months earlier, IMSuRT had trained with the U.S. Air Force, Department of Health and Human Services, other federal departments and agencies. They trained transporting personnel and equipment while participating in a mass disaster drill.
IMSuRT’s first night was spent at Stewart Air Force Base while an alternate site to establish the field hospital was found, the initial site was inaccessible.IMSuRT provided 24 hour medical care to more than five thousand workers for nine days and during that period, a team was founded.
Harborview Medical Center, Seattle in 2003 was selected as one of three hospitals in the United States to participate as a lead institution in the International Medical Surgical Response Team (IMSuRT). Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston since 1999 and University of Miami Ryder Trauma Center, Miami since 2003 are the others.