1070: Rebuilding Smarter: How the U.S. Virgin Islands Is Modernizing Public Health After Disaster with PHIG Funding

What does public health modernization look like when you’re serving four islands, a geographically isolated population, and a community still shaped by the aftermath of major hurricanes? In this episode, Esther Ellis, Territorial Epidemiologist for the U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health shares how PHIG (Public Health Infrastructure Grant) funding is transforming the territory’s health data systems, and why that matters far beyond technology. From launching a cloud-based immunization information system that replaced records lost after Hurricanes Irma and Maria, to implementing an electronic case reporting portal for notifiable diseases, the Virgin Islands is building a more connected, real-time public health infrastructure. Ellis explains how these systems improve vaccine tracking, outbreak response, provider reporting, and access to care, especially in a region where travel between islands requires flights or ferries and 25% of residents are uninsured.