Date: Wednesday, April 9
Time: 10:00 to 11:30 (JST)
Format: Hybrid / In-person morning coffee or online via zoom
Fee: Zoom is FREE / In-person is ¥1,000 payable at the door to cover room rental and coffee/tea
In-person: Roppongi Hills Residence B Community Room 6-12-2 Roppongi, Minato-ku, Tokyo
There will be a special presentation by the Education Committee.
Guest Speaker: Dr. Nancy Connell
Title: Avian Influenza – The long journey from birds to cattle to humans
Summary
This talk will describe the long history of the Avian Influenza Strain, known as Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), or Influenza A subtype H5N1. This strain was first identified in Scotland in farmed birds in 1959. It was next detected in China in 1996, when people carried the infection with little sickness. But the strain has been occasionally infecting humans by direct contact ever since. These sporadic “spillover” events, although rare, have worried researchers because of their high lethality in humans. But in the last few years, avian flu has spread across the world via wild birds and has adapted to other animals, including widespread infections of cattle in the United States. Mild cases have been identified in farm workers and, most worryingly, there have been some severe cases in people with no known contact with infected cows or birds. Human-to human transmission has not yet been detected but many public health officials believe this is a likely scenario. The lecture will discuss how these spillover events take place, how this flu differs from the seasonal flu that comes around every year, what countermeasures are available or under development, and how we can prepare for a next pandemic.
Profile
Dr. Nancy Connell is a Senior Scholar at the US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) in the International Networks and Collaborations section of the Division of Policy and Governmental Affairs. She trained in microbial genetics at Harvard. From 1992-2018, Dr. Connell was an investigator in microbial genetics and drug discovery at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School (NJMS), finishing her long career there as Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease and Director of Research in the Department of Medicine. She was then Senior Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Professor in the Department of Environmental Health. Dr. Connell now focuses on advances in life sciences and technology and their application to developments in biosecurity, biosafety, and biodefense. She has had a long-standing interest in regulatory policies associated with biocontainment work and dual-use research of concern, and she currently serves as advisor to the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School Regional Biocontainment Laboratory, putting her policy interests to work.
Registration link: https://cw3saoj.wildapricot.org/event-6094017
**Members wishing to register guests: Please use the same registration link but indicate they are your guest.
RSVP: In-person by April 4 / Zoom by April 7
General Meeting Team:
Director: Shigeko Nagaoka
Program Coordinator: Ko Iwata
Meeting Managers: Joan Rodgers Doi and Rina Jiang
Technical Support: Rina Jiang and Rumi Nagashima
Contact: generalmeetingmanagers@cwaj.org
