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Bringing together esteemed academics, public health practitioners, journalists, and policymakers from all sides of the COVID-19 policy debate in conversation with one another with an eye toward reforms in science and public health to better serve the public.

With millions of lives lost, the COVID-19 pandemic wrought havoc on the world. Despite decades of planning for the “next” pandemic, public health systems faced tremendous stress and often buckled and failed. Universities served as centers for valuable scientific work, but did they fail to support their academic freedom mission by sponsoring vigorous discussion and debate on matters of pandemic policy? To do better in the next pandemic, we need to learn the lessons of the COVID-19 era. 

The conference was organized to highlight some of the many important topics that public health officials and policymakers will need to address in preparing for future pandemics. The speakers, including those already listed and others who will be added over the next several weeks, represent a wide range of views on this issue. We look forward to a civil, informed, and robust debate.

Preliminary Agenda, Additional Speakers to be Added

8:30 am to 9 am: Registration and Breakfast

9:00 am to 9:15 am: Opening Remarks by Stanford President Jonathan Levin

Panels

Session 1:  9:30 am to 10:45 am

Evidence-Based Decision Making During a Pandemic

The interventions undertaken to control the COVID-19 pandemic – lockdowns, extended school closures, social distancing, mask mandates, vaccine mandates – were unprecedented in their scope and global impact. How well did these policies work to protect the public from COVID-19 and what were their collateral harms? How can scientists better inform pandemic policy in real time during the next pandemic?

Moderator:
Speakers: 

• Eran Bendavid, Professor of Health Policy, Stanford
• Monica Gandhi, Professor of Medicine, UCSF
• Marty Makary, Chief of Islet Transplant Surgery, Johns Hopkins
• Anders Tegnell, Former Swedish State Epidemiologist

Break: 10:45 am to 11 am

Session 2: 11 am to 12:15 pm

Pandemic Policy from a Global Perspective 

Because the world economy is global in scope, pandemic policy decisions made by Western governments had profound impacts on the health and economic prospects of people worldwide, including the collapse of global markets, severe supply chain disruptions, large-scale government borrowing to finance pandemic policies, and global inflation. How can the interests of the world’s poor be better represented in the decisions of Western government during the next pandemic?

Moderator: 
Speakers: 

• Kevin Bardosh, Applied Medical Anthropologist, University of Washington
• Sunetra Gupta, Professor of Theoretical Epidemiology, Oxford University
• Anup Malani, Professor of Law, University of Chicago
• Vinay Prasad, Professor of Medicine, UCSF

Lunch: 12:15 to 1:30 pm

Session 3: 1:30 to 2:45 pm 

Misinformation, Censorship, and Academic Freedom

During the pandemic, the challenge of balancing public health protection with the preservation of free speech became a focal point of debate. On one side, governments and public health authorities took measures to limit the spread of misinformation, sometimes by restricting certain content on social media and influencing traditional media narratives to align with official guidance. On the other side, some scientists and academics voiced concerns about these restrictions, arguing that they hindered open discourse and the exchange of diverse perspectives. This raises important questions: Does limiting speech in a public health emergency protect the public by reducing harmful misinformation, or does it risk silencing valid dissent and promoting a singular, approved viewpoint?

Moderator: George Tidmarsh, Adjunct Professor, Pediatrics-Neonatology, Stanford Medicine
Speakers: 

• Scott Atlas, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution, Stanford University
• Jenin Younes, Litigation Council, New Civil Liberties Alliance

Break: 2:45 pm to 3 pm

Session 4: 3 pm to 4:15 pm

COVID-19 Origins and the Regulation of Virology

The stakes in the debate about the origin of the pandemic could not be higher. If the pandemic started from an inadequately regulated wildlife trade or zoonoses, reforms to reduce the likelihood of human contact with wild species is vital. On the other hand, if the pandemic started due to dangerous laboratory experiments and inadequate protocols to prevent leaks, then more stringent regulation of such experimentation is warranted. What is the evidence on these topics, and what is the path forward?

• Laura Kahn, Co-Founder, One Health Initiative

Closing Remarks: 4:15 pm to 4:30 pm

John Ioannidis, Professor of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford Medicine

Reception: 5 pm to 6 pm

We are aware that the conference date coincides with Rosh Hashanah. We deeply appreciate the significance of this holiday and regret the overlap. 

To ensure our entire community can benefit from the event, the key addresses and panel sessions will be recorded and posted on our website within a few weeks. We believe this allows everyone the opportunity to experience the event.

This event is open to the media upon registration.