National emerging special pathogens training and education center (netec)

The University of Nebraska Medical Center, through the Board of Regents of the University of Nebraska, received a $7.73 million Cooperative Agreement from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) awarded September 30, 2025, through September 29, 2030, to operate the National Emerging Special Pathogens Training and Education Center (NETEC) under CFDA 93.825. NETEC delivers specialized training, technical assistance, peer-review assessments, and certification services to regional special pathogen treatment centers, state and jurisdiction-based treatment centers, and assessment hospitals nationwide. The center leverages expertise from healthcare institutions that have successfully evaluated and treated Ebola and other emerging infectious disease patients in the United States to enhance the competency of health care and public health workers and strengthen the capability of healthcare facilities to deliver efficient and effective patient care for high-consequence infectious diseases.

NETEC operates as a consortium cooperative agreement in which the University of Nebraska Medical Center collaborates with eight sub-awardees—Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles), Johns Hopkins University (Baltimore), University of Minnesota, Massachusetts General Hospital (Boston), Emory University (Atlanta), Denver Health, Nebraska Medicine (Omaha), and University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston—collectively representing leading academic medical centers and specialized treatment facilities with demonstrated BSL-4 laboratory capabilities and high-containment patient care infrastructure. Sub-awardees, selected December 4, 2025, and November 2025, provide regional expertise in infectious disease diagnosis, treatment protocols, workforce training, and medical countermeasure development. This multi-institutional approach ensures NETEC can disseminate evidence-based practices and training across the national network of emerging special pathogen treatment centers to strengthen preparedness and response capacity for potential Ebola and other high-consequence pathogen outbreaks.