Preparation and pandemics: confronting new threats part of the public Anniversary Lecture series, Christ Church Oxford

An institution, which, 500 years later is still at the forefront of innovation. A lecture by Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert, Professor of Vaccinology in the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University and Oxford Project Leader for the Oxford vaccine for COVID-19; followed by a panel discussion on the power of university-industry collaboration in the battle to beat Nipah Virus, infectious diseases and pandemic preparedness with Professor Peter Horby and Dr Zakiul Hassan. There will be the opportunity of a Q&A with these highly respected experts.

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert is a Professor of Vaccinology in the Pandemic Sciences Institute at Oxford University. She works on vaccine technology development, and viral vectored vaccine development, with projects on influenza, Nipah, MERS, and Lassa. Working with colleagues on the Old Road Campus in Oxford, she is able to take novel vaccines from design through GMP manufacturing to clinical development, with a particular interest in the rapid transfer of vaccines into GMP manufacturing and first in human trials. She was the Oxford Project Leader for ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, also known as Vaxevria/Covishield, the Oxford vaccine for COVID-19 which was estimated to have saved 6.3 million lives in its first year of use.

Professor Sir Peter Horby FMedSci FRS is Director, Pandemic Sciences Institute and Moh Family Foundation Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Health, University of Oxford. Over the last 20 years Peter has led research on a wide range of emerging and epidemic infections, including SARS, avian influenza, Ebola, Lassa fever, plague and COVID-19. He is Director of the Pandemic Sciences Institute, an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Oxford with a mission to discover, create and enable practical, science-driven solutions to infectious disease threats worldwide. Peter is a regular advisor to the UK Government and the World Health Organization.

Dr Md Zakiul Hassan is designing a clinical development plan for Nipah virus therapeutics under the supervision of Professor Piero Olliaro and Professor Sir Peter Horby. He is a University of Oxford Clarendon scholar and the first Oxford-MoH Foundation DPhil Scholar. The Reuben Foundation and the NDM studentship also fund his DPhil.

5.30-6.00pm – Doors open for registration
6.00-6.15pm – Welcome and introduction from Hugh Pym (1978, PPE), BBC Health Editor
6.15-7.30pm – Lecture delivered by Dame Sarah Gilbert with panel discussion
7.30-8.00pm – Q&A

Booking is essential.

Free