Emergency Preparedness welcomes new team members

Emergencies happen when you least expect them, that’s why it’s important to be as prepared as possible to handle whatever may come your way. At both Brigham and Women’s Faulkner Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, an integrated Emergency Preparedness team plans ahead to train employees how to respond when the unexpected happens and then helps coordinate the response all with the goal of ensuring the safety of our staff and patients.

The team is led by Executive Director of Emergency Medicine and Emergency Preparedness Brendan Russell, MBA, and Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness Scott Goldberg, MD. Very familiar to BWFH is Program Manager for Emergency Preparedness Robert Munroe. All three are delighted to welcome two new members to the team.

Sarah Tsay has joined the team as Director of Emergency Preparedness. She comes to the Brigham family from New York City Emergency Management where she supported the health and medical sector in citywide emergency response and managed monitoring and evaluation and the emergency operations center for the city. She studied Biochemistry and Molecular Biology as an undergraduate at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and earned her Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at Columbia University. She is currently a Doctor of Public Health candidate and Prajna Leadership Fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“I have always been interested in the sciences and making an impact through public health. During my MPH, I spent some time working in Myanmar. I happened to be there during a series of natural disasters, and I witnessed the devastation and needs of displaced communities during monsoons,” she says. “What really struck me was how little support these communities had, and how much could be done in disaster response. This inspired a career in emergency management, where I could be more operational and make a real impact. Responding to the first wave of COVID-19 in NYC cemented my desire to work in healthcare, and further explore the vast opportunities in bridging public health, healthcare and emergency management in this work. I am honored and thrilled to join the Brigham family.”

Haylee Manning has joined the team as Program Coordinator for Emergency Preparedness. She comes to the Brigham family from the Mass General Brigham central office where she worked in the Quality and Patient Experience Department. Prior to that, she worked for Boston Children’s Hospital in patient experience roles. Manning studied Public Health at UMass Amherst.

“I am very excited to join the team!” says Manning. “While I was working at Mass General Brigham central, I was pulled into the COVID-19 vaccine work that was being done at the Mass General Brigham level. There I got first-hand exposure to Emergency Preparedness and what that looks like for our MGB community—but also for our patients and community at large. I really enjoyed it so when this opportunity came up, I jumped for it.”

Munroe, who will continue to split his time between BWFH and BWH, says, “I am very excited for us to have a full team again. This should give us the ability to take on more work and get down to the details with everything related to Emergency Preparedness.”