2020 Virtual National Health Research Forum

William N. Hait, MD, PhD

Global Head, Johnson & Johnson External Innovation

Susan Hockfield, PhD

President Emerita and Professor of Neuroscience, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)

Iris Loew-Friedrich

Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer

The COVID-19 crisis sounded the alarm on weaknesses in U.S. and global preparedness and response capabilities. It also showcased human ingenuity, the significance of R&D in overcoming societal threats, and the importance of public-private partnerships. The participants in the first of this two-part discussion will address questions like: What role is science playing in the COVID-19 response? What are the roles of different segments within the R&D pipeline, and in what ways do the efforts to overcome COVID-19 align with, or differ from, the process that produces progress against other health threats? What has COVID-19 revealed about the scientific enterprise and access to/trust in its benefits?

Anthony Fauci

MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health

Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical of Pfizer Inc.

Myron M. “Mike” Levine

MD, DTPH, Associate Dean for Global Health, Vaccinology & Infectious Diseases, Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health, University of Maryland School of Medicine

Ruth Karron

Professor in the Department of International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Director of the Center for Immunization Research, and Founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Vaccine Initiative

Paul A. Offit

MD, Professor of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia

Gary J. Nabel

MD, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer & Senior Vice President, Global Research & Development, Sanofi

How is the race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine influencing vaccine development itself? What challenges still lie ahead for COVID-19 vaccine development and for vaccine development generally? How will broad scale access be accomplished? Are there mechanisms to address the time and financial risk absorbed by companies and partnerships that do not arrive at a viable vaccine?

Fully protecting the public’s health requires a robust effort to build confidence in vaccines. Hesitancy about vaccination was on the rise prior to COVID-19. Fortunately, cutting-edge social, behavioral and data science points the way forward.

Sandra Crouse Quinn

Professor and Chair, Family Science

Senior Associate Director of Maryland Center for Health Equity

Sanjay Gupta, MD

Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, Emory University Hospital; CNN Chief Medical Correspondent

Vivian W. Pinn, MD

Senior Scientist Emerita at the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)

The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan,

Former Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), founding dean, Morehouse School of Medicine, chairman, Sullivan Alliance to Transform the Health Professions

David R. Williams

PhD, MPH, Florence Sprague Norman and Laura Smart Norman Professor of Public Health, Chair of the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of African and African American Studies and Sociology at Harvard University

COVID-19 has made life and death disparities in health and healthcare even more visible. What can be done to make tangible progress against this long-standing failing in our collective efforts to secure better health for all? Spanning such topics as social determinants of health, workforce diversity, and disparities in health care access and utilization, the panel will explore what actions can be executed immediately to mitigate the disparate impact of COVID-19 and how to translate the visibility of this issue into concrete progress against entrenched inequities in health and healthcare.

Robert Redfield

MD, Director, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Frank Sesno

Director of Strategic Initives, The George Washington University, School of Media and Public Affairs

Griffin P. Rodgers, MD, MACP

National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)

Mark McClellan

Director, Robert J. Margolis Center for Health Policy, Duke University

Despite dedicated funding, legislative policies, and scenario planning, the national response to COVID-19 from a preparedness perspective fell short in many ways. What have we learned from the US experience and that of other nations to date and how can we quickly apply these lessons to outpace COVID-19 and the next global health threat?

Nicole Alexander Scott, MD, MPH

Immediate Past President of ASTHO; Director of Rhode Island Department of Public Health

Deborah Trautman, PhD, RN, FAAN

President & Chief Executive Officer, American Association of Colleges of Nursing

Nakela Cook, MD, MPH

Executive Director at the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)

Guillermo J. Prado, PhD

Dean, Graduate School; Leonard M. Miller Professor of Public Health Sciences; Director, Division of Prevention Science and Community Health, Miller School of Medicine; University of Miami

The urgent need for COVID-19 diagnostic tests and treatments coupled with the impact of social distancing on clinical trials, forced researchers, developers and regulators into uncharted waters. Are these new policies relevant in the long-run to speed up patient innovation? Helpful or harmful? How will the COVID-19 experience impact the upcoming user fee process and the biomedical regulatory climate?

Ned Braunstein

Senior Vice President, Regulatory Affairs, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals

Peter Marks, MD, PhD

Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration

Rachel Sher

Vice President of Regulatory and Government Affairs, National Organization for Rare Disorders

What would need to change to emerge as a nation determined to combat future pandemics and other challenges with the same sense of urgency and shared purpose as that defining our response to COVID-19? How do we truly take in what we’ve witnessed and accomplished, becoming a nation that reaches higher and more boldly for science and technology progress that advances the public good?