Is the U.S. prepared for a flu pandemic?

Recorded Oct. 10, 2017

Next year, 2018, will mark 100 years since the Spanish flu swept the world, killing as many as 100 million people. Now that we are at the beginning of this year’s flu season, what are the deadly strains that are circulating and how likely is a pandemic flu? What is the state of preparation if a pandemic flu in the United States if one were to strike? What about the world? Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota and one of the nation’s leading experts on health security issues will address these issues for AHCJ members and help to localize them to your beat. Sonja Olsen, CDC Deputy Chief of Epidemiology and Prevention, will talk about the most concerning flu epidemic circulating in China and how the CDC determines what flu strains have pandemic potential.

• Sonja J. Olsen, Ph.D., deputy chief, Epidemiology and Prevention Branch, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

• Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H., director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota

• Moderator: Bara Vaida, AHCJ’s core topic leader/infectious diseases

Michael Osterholm, Ph.D., M.P.H., is an internationally recognized expert in infectious disease epidemiology. In addition to serving as the director of CIDRAP, he is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council of Foreign Relations. Osterholm has served on the National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity and the World Economic Forum Working Group on Pandemics.

Sonja Olsen, Ph.D., is the deputy chief for the Epidemiology and Prevention Branch in CDC’s Influenza Division.  She has worked as an epidemiologist in influenza since 2010, first as the Influenza Program Director in Bangkok from 2010 to 2013, then as a member of the branch assigned to work on the Border Infectious Disease Surveillance in Tucson where she led other projects on seasonal and novel influenza vaccine policy in the United States and vaccine evaluations in Lao PDR.

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