On February 23 at 9 a.m. – noon EST, the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (CVM) will co-host a live virtual event focused on preventing future pandemics, partnering with the World Wildlife Fund and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.

The webinar, titled: “Emerging Disease, Wildlife Trade and Consumption, and the Need for Robust Global Governance: Exploring Ways to Prevent Pandemics,” will be moderated by Thomas L. Friedman of The New York Times, and features Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE and UN Messenger of Peace, as a special guest speaker.

This event is free and open to the public. It will feature public health and conservation experts from Cornell and other institutions, including the World Health Organization and the United Nations Environment Program.

This timely event takes place as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact all of us, while the world remains unprepared to prevent such a calamity from happening again.

Steve Osofsky, D.V.M. ’89, Jay Hyman Professor of Wildlife Health & Health Policy and director of the Cornell Wildlife Health Center, co-leads the event. “This virtual dialogue will be a robust exploration on how we as humanity can better govern our behavior to reduce the likelihood of future pandemics,” he says. “The experts we’ve assembled will be sharing their ideas on how our global community of nations can hopefully come together to prevent what I fear could otherwise be a cycle of recurring suffering and chaos.”

The event continues a critical discussion, supported by the Cornell Atkinson Advancing One Health Working Group, that has highlighted the need to put more emphasis on cross-sectoral collaboration and prevention, in addition to obvious emergency response needs.

Cornell community members as well as members of the public are encouraged to attend. Pre-registration is required, and the full agenda and registration portal are available here.