PREPARE International Advisory Panel (IAP) Seminar

PREPARE organised a Seminar featuring its International Advisory Panel (IAP) members in a series of talks, concluding with a panel discussion, on their respective experiences in fighting through epidemics, past and present. The Seminar was held on 22 Sep 2022, at Ng Teng Fong Centre for Healthcare Innovation (CHI) and was followed by a networking session with the seminar participants, PREPARE Executive Committee and IAP members.

This by-invitation-only event was attended by over 30 senior leaders from the infectious diseases field, across academia, public hospitals and ministries. The seminar was held following PREPARE’s inaugural two-day IAP Review Meeting which took place from 21 to 22 Sep 2022.

Learn more about PREPARE IAP's 1st Review Meeting.

Our three (3) distinguished speakers at the Seminar were:

• Prof Baron Peter Piot

  • Prof Piot is the Chair of PREPARE IAP and a Handa Professor of Global Health and Former Director of London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine.

• Dr Karin Bok

  • Dr Bok is a PREPARE IAP member and the Director of Pandemic Preparedness and Emergency Response at the Vaccine Research Center in National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (United States).

• Dr Meera Chand

  • Dr Chand is a PREPARE IAP member and the Director of Clinical and Emerging Infections at the UK Health Security Agency.

Learn more about the PREPARE IAP members.

The seminar was moderated by PREPARE Executive Director Prof Wang Linfa. Prof Wang introduced the participants to PREPARE and its role in Singapore’s mitigation and response / control plan for pandemic preparedness. Prof Wang also introduced our PREPARE IAP members and how the panel is key to helping PREPARE achieve its objectives, locally and globally.

Participants then heard directly from each IAP member. Prof Piot focused on his learnings of pandemic research from the European and African region, while Dr Karin focused on lessons learnt from outbreak response in the United States. Dr Meera shed insights into United Kingdom (UK)’s response, its successes, challenges as well as an emphasis on the current Monkeypox situation and UK’s approach to tackling it.

Dr Karin Bok, PREPARE IAP Member, presenting on her experience during the COVID-19 response in United States.

Dr Meera Chand, PREPARE IAP Member, answering a question posed by a participant during the Question & Answer session.

Thereafter, participants actively participated in the Question & Answer session and were keen to share and learn from each other’s experiences and improvements to Singapore’s strategy. Participants continued to interact with the IAP members and PREPARE team through a networking session over light refreshments.

View the event poster [PDF, 591KB].