Ending the Pandemic Era: Science at the Animal-Human-Environmental Interface
Presented by Joanna Mazet, DVM, MPVM, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology and Disease Ecology at University of California, Davis
Commentary by Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH
Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP)
Regents Professor
McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health
University of Minnesota
Moderated by Lewis Gilbert, PhD, MS
Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Institute on the Environment (IonE)
Assistant Professor, College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Minnesota
The frequency of epidemics arising from viruses spilling over from animal hosts to people is increasing, driven by surging human populations, environmental change, and globalized trade and travel. Recent catastrophic viral disease outbreaks and the dramatic responses to the pandemic threat illustrate that we are ill-prepared to mitigate the impact of viral threats. In an effort to establish a model to move from the current reactive disease response paradigm to one of prevention and preparedness, the USAID’s PREDICT Consortium, led by Prof. Mazet, has designed and implemented a targeted, risk-based strategy, based on detecting viruses early, at their source. Prof. Mazet will describe PREDICT's work and its results, including the establishment of advanced One Health capacity in more than 30 countries and identification of more than 800 previously undetected viruses, and describe additional work that needs to be done in the wake of the PREDICT Consortium's conclusion that only a small proportion of viral threats (estimated to be much less than 1\%) have been identified to-date.