Jeff Schlegelmilch is the Faculty Director of the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Columbia Climate School and an Associate Professor of Professional Practice, where he teaches courses on climate and disaster resilience. His areas of expertise include public health preparedness, community resilience, and the integration of private- and public-sector capabilities.

He has advised private-sector organizations on grid-resilience planning and counseled leaders on preparedness systems and policy at all levels of government. Before joining Columbia, he managed the international and non-healthcare business sector at the Yale New Haven Health System Center for Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Response, and earlier served as an epidemiologist and emergency planner for the Boston Public Health Commission.

An opinion contributor with The Hill, he is frequently called upon as a subject-matter expert by news outlets. He is the author of Rethinking Readiness: A Brief Guide to Twenty-First-Century Megadisasters and co-author of Catastrophic Incentives: Why Our Approaches to Disasters Keep Falling Short, both published by Columbia University Press.