Coronavirus: What is it and how do we prepare for it
Channel: New America
Date: 2020-03-03

Coronavirus, COVID-19, is rapidly spreading throughout the world and, as of this week, the outbreak has infected more than 80,000 people from 53 countries and growing. As cases spread and fears of a possible global pandemic continue to rise, how do we plan for the future?

Join the International Security Program via webcast as we welcome Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. From June 2018 through May 2019, Dr. Osterholm served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State.

He is the author of the 2017 book, Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, in which he not only details the most pressing infectious disease threats of our day but lays out a nine-point strategy on how to address them, with preventing a global flu pandemic at the top of the list.

In addition, Dr. Osterholm is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council of Foreign Relations. In June 2005 Dr. Osterholm was appointed to the newly established National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. In July 2008, he was named to the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center’s Academy of Excellence in Health Research and in October 2008, he was appointed to the World Economic Forum Working Group on Pandemics.

Previously, Dr. Osterholm served for 24 years (1975-1999) in various roles at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the last 15 as state epidemiologist and chief of the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section. While at the MDH, Dr. Osterholm and his team were leaders in the area of infectious disease epidemiology.

Speaker:

Michael T. Osterholm, @mtosterholm
Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), University of Minnesota

Moderator:

Peter Bergen, @peterbergencnn
Vice President Global Studies & Fellows, New America

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