Joel Palmer

Joel is the FEMA Integration Team lead representing FEMA Region VIII in the state of Utah. In that position he supports the efforts of the Utah Division of Emergency Management in alignment with the Regional Administrator’s priorities and the FEMA Strategic Plan. He is working with the state and Region to build a team that will eventually include program specialists in mitigation, logistics, and recovery. Prior to transitioning to the Utah FIT, Joel spent 10 years in FEMA Region 9. Beginning in 2008 as an Exercise Specialist before moving into the Preparedness, Analysis and Planning Specialist position and eventually advancing to be the Preparedness and Analysis Branch Chief.

Before joining FEMA, Joel received his Masters’ of Public Health from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, completing both a Concentration in Public Health Preparedness and a Certificate in Health Policy. He went on to serve as the Pandemic Coordinator for the Baltimore City Health Department in the Office of Public Health Preparedness and Response.

In 2019 Joel began a Ph.D. program in the Geography Department at the University of Utah. He is interested in the differences between the buzz-word defined concepts of “preparedness” and “resilience” and the concepts themselves; and looking at how Federally developed programs can best be used to support true individual and community implementation of both.