Public Health Emergencies (PHE), due to their scale, timing, or unpredictability, can overwhelm routine local health capabilities. Operational Research (OR) has shown its capability to aid decision makers in the fields of health and disease Public Health Emergencies (PHE), due to their scale, timing, or unpredictability, can overwhelm routine local health capabilities. Operational Research (OR) has shown its capability to aid decision makers in the fields of health and disease management, patient flow and all aspects of optimal use of scarce resources. The goal of ORPHES is to illustrate how public health emergency preparedness and response can benefit from the application of OR methodologies to  prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from health emergencies.management, patient flow and all aspects of optimal use of scarce resources. The goal of ORPHES is to illustrate how public health emergency preparedness and response can benefit from the application of OR methodologies to  prevent, protect against, quickly respond to, and recover from health emergencies.