Disaster Preparedness for Manufacturers with Tracy Wieder

<p><strong>Connect with Tracy Wieder:</strong></p><p>Email: TWieder@med.miami.edu </p><p>LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracy-wieder-a8a65a12a/</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:&nbsp;</strong>Hey, it's Lisa Ryan. Welcome to the Manufacturer's Network podcast. I'm excited to introduce you to our guest today, Tracy Wieder. Tracy has worked in the field of biomedical research for 30 years, starting as a lab technician, then moving into lab manager roles, lab director roles, and finally into her current role overseeing all research labs at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center. In addition, she's a recognized expert on disaster preparedness and safety. So, Tracy, welcome to the show.</p><p><strong>Tracy Wieder:&nbsp;</strong>Thank you so much, Lisa. I'm&nbsp;glad&nbsp;to be here.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:&nbsp;</strong>Please share a little about your background and what led you to do what you do.</p><p><strong>Tracy Wieder:&nbsp;</strong>Absolutely. I started just in college, getting a biology degree and going into research laboratories as a laboratory technician. And I minded my own business until one day when I lived in Houston. We experienced a tropical storm in 2001 named Tropical Storm Allison, and it wreaked such havoc on the Houston metropolitan area that I saw it in the laboratory setting. I saw entire careers destroyed by this event, and I have now made it a passion of mine to help out.</p><p>With disaster preparedness information in any setting that I can get my hands on to help people understand that really disaster planning applies to everybody no matter where.</p><p><strong>Lisa Ryan:&nbsp;</strong>So what caused them to lose their careers in that?</p><p><strong>Tracy Wieder:&nbsp;</strong>So, in this particular instance, because it was laboratory research, they have very valuable samples that are irreplaceable. They're intellectual property, and they store these samples in liquid nitrogen. So at a freezing temperature. Around a hundred and minus 190 degrees Celsius. So even colder,