About this event

  • Date and time Mon 15 Mar 2021 from 6:00pm to 7:00pm
  • Location Live stream - online
  • Organised by Public Engagement Programme

Join us for the 2021 Jephcott lecture 'The age of pandemics?' delivered by Professor Baron Peter Piot, Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

What many scientists had long predicted and feared is now a reality: today the world is in crisis because of a pandemic, COVID-19, and is collectively struggling to bring a new virus under control. The good news is that science is beginning to turn the tide against this devastating virus. Thanks to unprecedented collaboration and investment, we have achieved in months what would normally take decades with several safe and effective vaccines, as well as major strides in diagnostics and therapeutics.

Professor Peter Piot will discuss the current state of the pandemic as well as the urgent imperative to better prepare for future waves and the looming threat of another major epidemic. He will argue that it may well be that the world is entering an age of pandemics as a result of our increasing inability to live in harmony with nature and natural ecosystems. Professor Piot will discuss the need to strengthen global preparedness of systems for future health threats in order to mitigate their human, social, and economic impacts and, crucially, what can be done today to ensure no one is left behind when the next pandemic strikes.

Registration for this webinar will close 2 hours prior to the start time. You will receive the webinar link 2 hours before the meeting. Late registrations will not be accepted. 

This webinar is available for on-demand viewing. The webinar recording will be available for registered delegates up to 30 days after the live webinar broadcast via Zoom. The link will be sent 24 hours after the webinar takes place. 

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Key speakers

Professor Peter Piot

Professor Baron Peter Piot

Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

Speaker's biography

Professor Peter Piot MD PhD is the Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a Handa Professor of Global Health. He was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations.

 

A clinician and microbiologist by training, he co-discovered the Ebola virus in Zaire in 1976, and subsequently led pioneering research on HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa. He is a member of the US National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Medicine of France, the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, and the Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, and is a fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal College of Physicians.

 

Professor Piot is the Chair of HMG’s Strategic Coherence of ODA-funded Research Board; of the King Baudouin Foundation USA; and of the African Health Research Institute. He is Vice-Chair of the Global Health Innovation Technology Fund, and member of the Board of the Novartis Foundation; the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, and Sentebale. He is a Special Advisor to the President of the European Commission on research and innovation for COVID-19.

 

He was knighted as a Baron in 1995 in Belgium, awarded an Honorary Knighthood KCMG in 2016, and the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun of Japan (2018). Professor Piot has received numerous awards for his research and service, including the Gairdner Global Health Award (2015), the Robert Koch Gold Medal (2015), the Prince Mahidol Award for Public Health (2014), the Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research (2013), the Nelson Mandela Award for Health and Human Rights (2001), and was named a 2014 TIME Person of the Year (The Ebola Fighters). He has published over 600 scientific articles and 16 books, including his memoir, No Time to Lose, translated into 5 languages.

Location

Live stream - online

Disclaimer: All views expressed in this webinar are of the speakers themselves and not of the RSM nor the speaker's organisations. 

Special rates for difficult times
The RSM wishes to offer healthcare professionals continued learning opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic. The RSM’s weekly COVID-19 Series webinars remain free of charge, while there will be small charges to register for other online education. These fees will enable the RSM to continue its programme of activities and will apply during the course of the pandemic.

Registration for this webinar will close 2 hours prior to the start time. You will receive the webinar link 2 hours before the meeting. Late registrations will not be accepted.

All webinars will be available for registered delegates 30 days after on Zoom. The link will be sent 24 hours after the webinar takes place. 

This webinar will be recorded and stored by the Royal Society of Medicine and may be distributed in future on various internet channels. 

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