Coexisting with COVID-19: Are We There Yet?

Welcome back! It’s been almost three months since our last livestream and there’s been plenty of news about the global pandemic. In this episode, we’ll catch up with some of UW’s top experts who will update us on relevant advances and discoveries that may help us realize there is, in fact, a light at the end of the pandemic tunnel. Featuring moderator Hanson Hosein and faculty guests Christopher Murray and Helen Chu.

About this week’s guests:

Christopher Murray, Institute Director of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), Professor and Chair of Health Metrics Sciences at the University of Washington

Christopher Murray’s career has focused on improving health for everyone worldwide by improving health evidence. A physician and health economist, his work has led to the development of a range of new methods and empirical studies to strengthen health measurement, analyze the performance of public health and medical care systems, and assess the cost-effectiveness of health technologies. IHME provides rigorous and comparable measurement of the world’s most important health problems and evaluates the strategies used to address them. Before founding IHME, Murray served as Executive Director, Evidence and Information for Policy Cluster at the World Health Organization, Director, Harvard Initiative for Global Health and Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, and Richard Saltonstall Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard School of Public Health. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and 2018 co-recipient of the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.

Helen Chu, Board certified physician with UW Medicine and UW assistant professor of Medicine and Allergy and Infectious Diseases                                            

Helen Chu’s research is focused on emerging respiratory viral infections and maternal-fetal immunity against respiratory viruses. Her laboratory research is focused on the study of virologic and immunologic correlates of protection from respiratory viral infections in mothers and infants, conducts clinical trials of vaccine and therapeutic candidates, and performs large-scale community based surveillance studies of respiratory viruses.