Workshop on Emerging Technologies for Integrated Surveillance and Diagnosis of Infectious Disease and Bio-Secuity Threats; March, 2020; Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore MD

Investigators

Abstract

This award will fund for a workshop for the development of technologist for surveillance and diagnosis of pathogens; it will be held at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in Baltimore, MD in March, 2020. The workshop will bring togther experts in infectious disease modeling, technology innovation, surveillance, control, and public health policy over a period of two days to identify needs and opportunities in this area. Emerging infectious diseases pose an increasing risk to humans due to a growing world population, changes in climate and land use, and a highly connected global transport systems. Advances and accessibility to engineering technologies have increased the threat of accidental and deliberate harm from biological incidents. To mitigate these risks requires improved epidemic preparedness strategies, specifically infectious disease surveillance and control at the local, state and national levels. This workshop will bring together a range of disciplines to explore critical gaps in scientific and technological understanding: those that prevent the translation of current emerging technologies, as well as gaps in the community?s prioritization of basic research needed for future technological capabilities. The workshop will identify gaps in current approaches to surveillance methods and explore how these problems should be addressed with available emerging technologies. It will identify needs for new technologies. The results from the workshop will be used to guide the national research agenda and thus better target support mechanisms to i) aid the development and integration of new emerging technologies, and ii) ensure the translation of the technology to public health practitioners; both of which are critical steps to protect the population from the increased threat posed by infectious diseases. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.