The Rise of Pandemics: How Decoding Human Immunity Can Protect Us

With Wayne Koff, CEO, President and Founder, Human Vaccines Project

and Anja Langenbucher, Director Europe, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Moderated by Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, Former German Federal Minister of Defense and Minister of Economics and Technology; Chairman, Spitzberg Partners LLC

For years, scientists have been predicting a pandemic like COVID-19. Despite medical and technological advances, the actual risk of emerging disease outbreaks turning into global pandemics has significantly increased. The reasons are manifold while all entirely driven by human action.

Both the Human Vaccines Project and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are world-leading experts in understanding and combating disease outbreaks. The Human Vaccines Project is the pioneer in decoding human immunity. Deciphering the human immune system is the next great frontier of science, allowing to harness the vast potential to fight disease that lies within all humans. For the first time in history, technologies across genomics, systems biology and artificial intelligence are opening areas of inquiry at a breathtaking rate.

Together with our guests we will try to answer the most urgent questions of the age of pandemics: How can we respond quickly and efficiently to any outbreaks? What can the transatlantic partners learn from the current COVID-19 pandemic? How can we improve global cooperation – in the fight against disease outbreaks but also in reversing the many man-made contributing factors like climate change?