MPH Students Participate in Gates Notes Deep Dive

Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates, founder of the Gates Foundation, has been hosting a series of online seminars during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, covering a wide range of relevant topics.  On April 22nd, his seminar topic was Pandemic Prevention, and his seminar brought together professionals in the field of Public Health from around the world to discuss, reflecth and share information about this important topic.  Sabrita Anand, Kacie Kushniruk and Jasmin Ogren (graduands from our U of S School of Public Health Masters of Public Health program) attended this latest seminar.

Below are their reflections on this important seminar...  More detailed information about this seminar should be posted at some point in the future on Bill Gates' blog GatesNotes.com.

Sabrita Anand

It was an honour to represent the University of Saskatchewan’s School of Public Health at the Gates Foundation 2022 Deep Dive Event. I had the rare opportunity of meeting Bill Gates and others from across the world who are also passionate about Public Health, to discuss pandemic prevention. Overall, it was an unforgettable learning experience

Kacie Kushniruk

Attending the Gates Notes Deep Dive, we were able to hear presentations from three unique health care professionals:

Dr. Sofonias Tessema, Program Lead for the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, Africa CDC
Dr. Padimini Srikantiah, Deputy Director, Pneumonia, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Executive Director for Pandemic Prevention and Health Systems, Skoll Foundation

From Dr. Tessema, we learned the importance of the three C’s - coordinate, collaborate, and communicate for improved capacity over disease/genomic surveillance. From Dr. Srikantiah, we discussed the potential for developing a vaccine within 100 days and the economic and health impacts this could have with the right targets and the right vaccine approaches to evaluation, approvals, manufacturing, and distribution. Finally, from Dr. Messonnier, the most important perspective was understanding that pandemic prevention is not an on/off switch, but rather, a dial. This dial will help us to avoid the “panic + neglect” cycle we, as a global society, consistently find ourselves in. Thus, pandemic preparedness must be a consistent, integrated routine, and systems-level investment; we can dial up in an emergency and then back down during routine monitoring/surveillance.

Attending Gates Notes Deep Dive was an invigorating opportunity to hear perspectives from global leaders, including a Q&A with Bill Gates. Given the theme of “Pandemic Prevention,” I am most appreciative of the connections made with fellow public health professionals from across the globe. I want to sincerely thank the School of Public Health Faculty for the opportunity to attend and learn from the world’s experts in infectious disease and global health.

Jasmin Ogren

The recent GatesVentures Deep Dive event entitled ‘Pandemic Prevention’ was an enlightening and inspirational opportunity. The event brought together 35 graduate students from around the globe to hear content briefings from subject matter experts and engage in discussions with Bill Gates. Above all else, this opportunity reminded me that global health is an inherently interdisciplinary field, requiring coordinated efforts from colleagues worldwide to identify and solve complex global challenges. Preventing the next pandemic and promoting health equity depends on a global commitment to public health action using a systems-based approach to problem-solving. I would like to express my gratitude to the School of Public Health for the nomination and GatesVentures for the opportunity.