In just a couple of months the Coronavirus that emerged from the Chinese city of Wuhan has spread around the world, sparking a race to find treatments and vaccines against it. Zeroing in on how this deadly virus is spreading and what everyone can do to take preventative measures are The Lavin Agency’s Top Pandemic Speakers—letting you know what this, and the spread of other infectious diseases, means for you and your community.
Nathan Wolfe is the world authority on how infectious diseases spread and how to prevent pandemics before they strike. Just as we discovered in the 1960s that it is better to prevent heart attacks then try to treat them, over the next 50 years we will realize that it is better to stop pandemics before they spread and that effort should increasingly be focused on viral forecasting and pandemic prevention. In his urgent talks, Wolfe discusses how novel viruses enter into the human population from animals and go on to become pandemics. He then explains attempts by his own research group to study this process and attempt to control viruses that have only recently emerged. By creating a global network at the interface of humans and animals, Wolfe is working to move viral forecasting from a theoretical possibility to a reality.
Gina Kolata is the New York Times Reporter for Science and Medicine, and demystifies the science of personal health in the face of spreading pandemics. In her talk based on her book Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918, Kolata recounts the fascinating story of the world’s deadliest disease. The Great Influenza Pandemic killed an estimated 50 million people, and infected 500 million around the globe—making it one of the deadliest disasters in our history. But what’s most amazing about that epidemic is how scientists solved the mystery of what that the virus looked like: by finding fragments in corpses and tissues stored in a vast government warehouse. Drawing from her extensive research, and relating it back to current diseases, Kolata tells the story of this discovery, and explains what it revealed about the 1918 flu—and what made it so destructive.
Dr. Jennifer Gardy is the expert champion of science that we need in the face of a spreading global pandemic. In a globally connected world with a rapidly expanding population, identifying and stopping pandemics before they spread is more important than ever. In her talks, Gardy outlines her vision of a 21st century form of public health, or “public health 2.0.” We must ensure that the outbreaks of the future are “open source outbreaks,” where researches around the world create and share vital information in real time. Through the lens of recent outbreaks, she explores how “open source outbreaks” unfold, from the technology that enables them, to what the future of public health collaboration could mean for our species.
To book one of these Pandemic Speakers for your next speaking engagement, contact The Lavin Agency and speak with an agent from our sales team.
