Society & Culture
The Covid-19 pandemic has been a historic public health crisis that has had drastic and long-lasting effects on global health and the economy. This has also been the first pandemic where updates have been provided on a nearly instantaneous basis to both biomedical researchers, healthcare workers and the public. Over 20 plus months, research from across the globe has allowed us to understand SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, in details normally taking years to decades. However, many questions remain. Namely, how did this happen? When will it end? How do we navigate this new frontier between these points? The Speaker will provide some background context to describe our current state of knowledge of the virus, the illness and the vaccines and interventions being implemented to get the pandemic under control. Speaker: Dr. Jason Kindrachuk PhD Dr. Kindrachuk is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Medical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases, University of Manitoba, Canada, and holds a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in the molecular pathogenesis of emerging viruses. His research expertise and experiences have focused on emerging virus pathogenesis and outbreak preparedness with a focus on low- and middle-income countries, including outreach activities in Sierra Leone, Gabon and Kenya. His research investigations focus on the circulation, transmission and pathogenesis of emerging viruses that pose the greatest threat to global human and animal health. These have included ebolaviruses, coronaviruses and influenza viruses. Past and present findings from his investigations will help inform therapeutic treatment and development strategies, outbreak prediction and preparedness efforts. He is also active in international outbreak response efforts, including the West African Ebola virus disease epidemic and, most recently, Covid-19. He actively participates in training young investigators for careers in infectious disease research and in public outreach activities locally, nationally and internationally.