Responses to various disasters including the World Trade Center attack, Great Eastern JapanEarthquake, Gulf Oil Spill, Ebola and Zika outbreaks, Lac-Mégantic rail disaster, and recenthurricanes and wildfires have revealed the dire need for improved ability to perform rapid datacollection and research for such events. In 2013, leaders from NIH, CDC, and HHS, noted that“the knowledge that is generated through well-designed, effectively executed research inanticipation of, in the midst of, and after an emergency is critical to our future capacity to betterachieve the overarching goals of preparedness and response: preventing injury, illness,disability, and death and supporting recovery.” While much has been done to improve the life-saving response for public health emergencies, these events have also revealed notable gaps inour ability to develop, coordinate, and implement needed scientific research in response to adisaster. It took 11 months to begin a longitudinal health study of exposed workers after theGulf Oil spill. Such delays adversely affect the ability to identify participants or gather vitalinformation to determine disaster-related risk factors such as resiliency, health outcomesrelated to exposures or other stressors, or efficacy of various response activities. Critical dataare lost if not collected in a timely, systematic, and scientifically rigorous manner throughcoordinated interdisciplinary efforts with multiple stakeholders, including impactedcommunities. In response, the NIH Disaster Research Response Program was created tofacilitate time critical data collection and research into national response and recovery efforts.Together with Canada and Japan, progress is being made to overcome some of the challengesand advance disaster research capabilities including availability of research protocols, IRBreview processes, coordination among government agencies, and engagement of academic,public health, and community stakeholders.