ABSTRACT
Support is requested for a Keystone Symposia conference entitled Lessons from the Pandemic: Responding to
Emerging Zoonotic Viral Diseases, organized by Drs. Linfa Wang, Sarah Catherine Gilbert and William E.
Dowling. The conference will be held in Snowbird, Utah from April 10-13, 2022.
Seventeen years after the SARS outbreak, the international scientific and non-scientific communities were still
not prepared to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. This conference will focus on the gaps identified from the
COVID-19 pandemic and address needs for improved global preparedness to outbreaks. This program will
cover topics on new approaches to both the technical and policy aspects of pandemic preparedness. The
timing of a conference such as this is ideal and will allow for a very concentrated discussion on certain topics
such as the unprecedented surge of scientific focus and government/business investment for COVID-19.
Topics will include early warning systems to detect emerging zoonotic threats, rapid development and
deployment of diagnostics, model systems, platforms for rapid development of countermeasures including
vaccines and therapeutics, and manufacturing challenges for global deployment. It is anticipated that by
building a program which focuses on both science and policy areas, that it will help facilitate a paradigm shift
by bringing interdisciplinary groups together. Although the main focus for this program will be on
coronaviruses, other high profile emerging infectious disease viral pathogens will be included for meaningful
comparative analysis. Finally, the program will cover the importance of manufacturing during a global
pandemic.