1st EGHRIN Seminar: “Pandemic preparedness: A whole-of-society approach”
EGHRIN organised on March 15 its first Seminar under the title “Pandemic preparedness: A whole-of-society approach”. The objective of the Seminar was to address pandemic preparedness from a multidisciplinary approach, including societal aspects not so often considered in the traditional debates about preparedness.
The follower speakers participed in the Seminar:
Anne-Mieke Vandamme, PhD, biochemist with a PhD in sciences. She joined the Rega Institute at the University of Leuven in 1990, where she started a unit on virus genetic testing for clinical practice. Together with Professor Van Ranst, she founded a new division, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology. In 2016 she co-started the “Institute for the future”, a transdisciplinary research incubator. She is also a member of the EGHRIN Executive Board.
Heidi Larson (through a recorded presentation), PhD, is Professor of Anthropology, Risk and Decision Science and is the Founding Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She is also Clinical Professor of Health Metrics Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, USA, and Guest Professor at the University of Antwerp, Belgium.
Ana Antic, PhD, is a professor at Copenhagen University. She is a social and cultural historian whose research focuses on the history of modern Europe and its global connections, history of war and violence, and history of the 'psy' science.
Leesa Lin, PhD, is Assistant Professor at LSHTM, Co-Director of the Vaccine Confidence Project and lead in the Global Listening Project. Dr. Lin multidisciplinary team that adopts innovative approaches using modelling, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) analytics, such as machine learning, to anticipate, prevent, prepare for and respond to risks ranging from pandemic outbreaks, climate disasters, antimicrobial resistance to vaccine hesitancy, issues of inequity, confidence and resilience, infodemics and misinformation.
The Seminar was be facilitated by Antoni Plasència, as Chair of EGHRIN Executive Committee. He is also Director General of the Barcelona Institute of Global Health (ISGlobal) since October 2014, Medical Consultant at the Department of International Health of the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona and Associated Professor at the University of Barcelona.
The Seminar took place in Zoom and was free and open to the general public, its recording is available in YouTube. More than 100 people registered into the Seminar with more than 70 participants joining the session. A report of the Seminar was drafted by ISGlobal.
