Conference organized by:

Center for Biosecurity of UPMC

World Health Organization Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response Office

Conference sponsored by:

The Nuclear Threat Initiative

Overview: International Conference on Biosafety and Biorisks

Information fuels and directs the response to an epidemic. Public health professionals, clinicians, scientists, politicians, journalists, and members of the public make critical decisions based upon what is known about a disease as an outbreak unfolds. However, getting information that is accurate and timely to those who need it takes advance planning and training. An effective response to a disease outbreak will require an interdisciplinary network of public health workers, laboratories able to process clinical samples, researchers available to identify pathogens and/or develop therapeutics, and national and international health officers, all working together in concert with political leadership. This is true whether a disease outbreak is of natural origin, the result of a laboratory accident, or the result of bioterrorism.

To support the requisite planning process and facilitate essential interdisciplinary communication and collaboration, the Center for Biosecurity convened the International Conference on Biosafety and Biorisks in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) Communicable Disease Surveillance and Response office. This multidisciplinary forum in which participants addressed key vulnerabilities in the global epidemic response, lessons learned from past outbreaks, and the safety and biosecurity considerations inherent in pathogen research, set the stage for a promising future of international collaboration.

More than 150 scientists and public health practitioners from 25 countries gathered to hear speakers from the WHO, the European Commission, scientific journals, and public health networks—many of the institutions and individuals who will respond to the next epidemic. Experts discussed organizational and behavioral approaches to epidemic management and biosafety, and the importance of education and training before a crisis. Through discussion of the biosafety and biosecurity challenges presented by past epidemics such as SARS and influenza, participants also recognized that any effort to stop a global epidemic will require new partnerships, shared planning, and a shared response.

For the future, effective public health management of natural and/or manmade pathogens will require harmonization of biosafety, biosecurity, research, and communication standards among nations and across professional disciplines. This conference brought forth strong arguments in support of such a framework, which is the first step toward its establishment.

- Gigi Kwik Gronvall, Ph.D.

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