Biological-Behavioral Pandemic-Threats Surveillance Warning System

Since the 1970s when emerging infectious diseases like Ebola were first identified, global health experts have faced an intractable problem: by the time someone sick shows up at a hospital, an outbreak has already occurred. As an Executive Team member of multimillion dollar project to predict pandemics, I led the design, field testing and implementation of all tools, protocols and training for the standardized conduct of qualitative and quantitative research in global disease ‘hotspots’ in more than 30 countries. Through the novel use of existing technologies, the work culminated in the development of the Biological-Behavioral Pandemic-Threats Surveillance Warning System designed to disrupt zoonotic disease outbreaks in real time at their source. Proof of concept was established in a small study in Yunnan, China, in which 3% of the population living near bats carrying a SARS-like coronavirus tested seropositive. Learn more here.