UC Berkeley Forum: “Swine Flu 2009: Are we Facing a Pandemic?”

May 05, 2009
Monday evening panel of UC Berkeley professors led a forum discussing the H1N1 virus, more commonly referred to as swine flu. The panelists included professors Arthur Reingold, an expert on infectious disease transmission, surveillance and prevention; Russell Vance, an expert on pathogenesis and immunology; Wayne Getz, an expert on the ecology and epidemiology of wildlife and human diseases; and Amy Herr, an expert on the potential role in a pandemic of “lab-on-a-chip” diagnostic tools.


The forum, titled “Swine Flu 2009: Are We Facing a Pandemic?” was hosted by the Alliance for Global Health, a campus-wide initiative that aims to merge global health research from across various departments and disciplines. Discussion focuses on the impacts of the virus as well as the epidemiology and biology of the H1N1 virus, the response of the human immune system to infection, and the development of new diagnostic tools used to detect pathogens in the field.