Stay tuned for info on future events!

This event was recorded and we will share the video once available

On February 6 at 11:00 AM ET, join the sixth event in the seminar series hosted by the Pandemic Center Biosecurity Game Changers Fellows: Reimagining Verification of the Biological Weapons Convention in the Age of AI and Open Science.

Convened and moderated by and intended for early-to-mid-career professionals, the Game Changers Seminar Series shines a spotlight on major challenges that will confront the next generation of biosecurity leaders and explores impactful next steps that can be taken to lean forward faster to prevent biological crises.

Background: The Biological Weapons Convention (BWC) remains a cornerstone of global biosecurity, yet its verification architecture has long been recognized as a critical gap. Rapid advances in artificial intelligence and the expansion of open science are fundamentally reshaping how biological research is conducted—lowering barriers to innovation while simultaneously increasing the risks of misuse. These developments underscore the need to rethink traditional approaches to verification.

This seminar explores how verification under the BWC might be reimagined in the context of emerging technologies such as AI and the growing adoption of open science norms. It will examine the potential for AI to strengthen confidence-building measures, enhance transparency, and improve early warning systems, while also addressing its limitations, governance risks, and ethical implications. The discussion will further examine how open science reshapes the conditions for BWC verification in ways that safeguard security without stifling legitimate research and innovation.

Who: The sixth seminar in this series will be moderated by Sandra Matinyi, Biosecurity Game Changers Fellow.

The panel will include top experts in the field, including:

• Aparupa Sengupta, Senior Program Officer for NTI’s Global Biological Policy and Programs team (NTI | bio)
• James Revill, Head of Weapons of Mass Destruction and Space Security Programmes at the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR)
• Peter Babigumira Ahabwe, Friend of the Chair at BWC and Epidemic Intelligence Analyst at Uganda National Institute of Public Health

Please contact pandemic_center@brown.edu with any questions.

Register Here

On November 18, 2025, Craig Spencer, MD, MPH hosted Gabriella Stern for an event in the Public Health in Practice Seminar Series titled Health Communication as Essential Infrastructure for Global Health.

Stern’s career has spanned top-tier international journalism, philanthropy and public service. She led communications for the World Health Organization (WHO) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, developing high-stakes, high-profile strategies at the most consequential time in public health communications in living memory.

This Pandemic Center event, was part of Dr. Spencer’s Public Health in Practice Seminar Series, looked at the case that the period of 2020-2025 has made for a belated recognition of health communications as a global public good, one benefiting from proper financial investments, an enhanced research agenda to strengthen quality and impact, and strategic positioning at the heart of relevant sub national, national, regional and global institutions.

Highlights from this event are covered in an article from the School of Public Health.
Read here

The Pandemic Center partnered with the Private Sector Roundtable on Global Health Security, convening 20 senior business executives and leaders from across the country to discuss lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic and pragmatic, replicable models to safeguard employees and boost state and local response to major health emergencies.

Businesses are essential partners in protecting public health and economic stability during crises, as demonstrated by a national initiative that united U.S. business leaders to share lessons from COVID-19 and develop practical models for future emergency response. 

More info here

Check out our former events here

Are you interested in or working on projects that address the local, national or global challenges of pandemics? Are you looking to meet others on campus who are committed to understanding, preventing, and managing the impacts of pandemics—whether through research, policy, healthcare, or community-based solutions? Curious about biosecurity or biosafety?

On Wednesday, April 2, the School of Public Health’s Pandemic Center hosted a Pandemics and Biosecurity Interest Group coffee meet-up to:

• Provide an opportunity to network with like-minded individuals and groups across campus

• Share insights on pandemic and biosecurity-related work happening at the University

• Foster potential research and grant-writing collaborations

• Explore interest in building a collaborative space for exchanging ideas, sharing resources, and developing actionable strategies against pandemics and biosecurity threats

If you attended or are interested in working with the Pandemic Center in the future, please fill out this form.

About the Presidential Faculty Award Lecture
The Presidential Faculty Award was established by President Christina H. Paxson in Spring 2013 to recognize members of Brown’s distinguished faculty who are conducting especially important and innovative scholarship. The 2025 Presidential Faculty Award Lecture  “Pandemic-Proofing the Future,” featured Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health.

About the Lecture
In this talk, Jennifer Nuzzo will discuss how we can prevent, reduce vulnerabilities, and increase resilience to pandemics and other biological emergencies, and the harms they pose to health, security, and prosperity.

Read more about this even here

 We will update again when a video of the event is available
 

This event was on March 5, 2025 as a panel discussion moderated by Director of the Pandemic Center, Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, S.M.

This discussion featured expert panelists reflecting on the valuable lessons learned and progress made since COVID-19 was characterized as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization and ask: What have we learned, what have we done, and how should we continue preparing for the next global pandemic?

Panelists:

• Adam Levine, Associate Dean of Biology and Medicine, Director of the Center for Global Health Equity, Professor of Emergency Medicine
• Theresa Raimondo, Assistant Professor of Engineering
• Scott Rivkees, Associate Dean for Education in the School of Public Health, Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy and Practice
• Larry Warner, Chief Impact and Equity Officer at United Way of Rhode Island, President of the Rhode Island Public Health Association, Adjunct Assistant Professor of Health Services, Policy and Practice

This was an in-person event.

Brown Daily Herald wrote an article on this event that can be read here