The Summer Workshop on Pandemics and Global Health Security will not be offered in 2022. To be added to our mailing list to learn about our plans for the summer workshop in 2023, please email your contact information to biodefense@gmu.edu. In the meantime, you can also subscribe to The Pandora Report for news and analysis on biodefense and global health security issues. New developments regarding the summer workshop will also be announced via The Pandora Report.
COVID-19 has exposed just how unprepared governments, corporations, and societies are for a global pandemic. While the SARS-CoV-2 virus is only the most recent threat to global health security, it will certainly not be the last. Threats to global health security continue to evolve due to the emergence of new infectious diseases, globalization, advances in science and technology, and the changing nature of conflict.
Pandemics and Global Health Security is a three-day, non-credit workshop, organized by the Biodefense Graduate Program at the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, designed to introduce participants to the challenges facing the world at the intersection of pandemic preparedness and response, public health, national security, and the life sciences. Over the course of three days, participants will discuss how the biology and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 contributed to the emergence of that virus as a global pandemic, lessons learned from Operation Warp Speed about the development of medical countermeasures, obstacles to hospital biopreparedness, challenges to science communication during a pandemic, the bioethics of resource allocation during a public health emergency, the future of global health security, and the role of science and technology in preventing and responding to pandemics. The workshop faculty are internationally recognized experts from the government, private sector, and academia who have been extensively involved in research and policy-making on public health, biodefense, and security issues.