 Prof. Dale Fisher
Programme Director Centre for Infectious Disease Emergency Response
NUS
Singapore |
Title:
Outbreak Response: Pitfalls we can manage
Abstract:
All agree that more pandemics are inevitable although their nature will vary from a novel respiratory virus with community spread as we have just experienced to one where transmission is generally later or not even spread by respiratory secretions at all. While the COVID-19 response demonstrated great success stories such as the research to inform strategy and interventions internationally there remain many areas that were found wanting to varying degrees. The crucial early response readiness phase was often missing. Likewise many high-income counties that seemed to prepare well did not engage their communities adequately nor coordinate well across government and non-government sectors. Global sharing of resources, misinformation and escalating vaccine hesitancy all contribute to modern day challenges we need to manage proactively.
Biography:
Prof Dale Fisher moved from Australia to Singapore at the beginning of the SARS outbreak in 2003. Since 2007 he has been affiliated with WHO and its Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN), participating in outbreak responses including influenza 2009 H1N1 in countries including Mongolia, Malaysia and Myanmar as well as the Ebola response in West Africa, 2014-5. From 2018 to 2022 he chaired the network acting in an advisory role to the WHO Director General and ultimately receiving an award from him for outstanding Leadership. In Feb 2020 he was part of the WHO mission to Wuhan to investigate the COVID-19 Outbreak. He undertook around 750 local and international media engagements through the pandemic. He has just completed his book entitled “Infectious Disease Emergencies: Preparedness and Response.” He is programme director of the Centre for Infectious Disease Emergency (IDE) Response and the MSc IDE at NUS.
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