How should we deal with a global pandemic?

Common viral infections such as a cold or the flu are something we all have to deal with. Most of the time there is no cause for alarm.

However, some viral infections can become dangerous, or even fatal. With people traveling all over the world with relative ease, the risk of global infectious disease outbreaks has led to an increased emphasis on public health policy as it relates to controlling pandemics.

The role of public health in this situation will be the focus of panel discussion on Thursday, March 14, featuring two physicians with extensive experience in the field.

The talk will feature Dr. Fiona Smaill, a medical microbiologist for the Hamilton Regional Laboratory Medicine Program and a McMaster professor; and Dr. Allison McGeer, director of infection control at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. The pair will discuss the various factors that contribute to pandemics, while also touching on the need for collaborative global efforts to deal with infectious diseases.

Smaill is chair of the Department of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster, and a consultant in infectious diseases and infection control at Hamilton Health Sciences. Her research involves clinical trials in HIV, new vaccines for tuberculosis and systematic reviews on infections in pregnancy. She is also co-director of the HIV clinic at Hamilton Health Sciences.

McGeer is a microbiologist and infectious disease consultant at Mount Sinai, and a member of the infection control subcommittee of the Ontario Provincial Infectious Diseases Advisory Committee. She has also served as a member of Canada’s National Advisory Committee on Immunization, and on various national and international infection prevention and pandemic planning committees. Her research areas include the prevention of healthcare-associated infection, the epidemiology of influenza and adult immunization.

The event has been organized by the McMaster Health Forum Student Subcommittee, in collaboration with the McMaster Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Society (MUNSS) and the Global Health Office in the Faculty of Health Sciences.

The panel discussion will take place from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Michael G. DeGroote Centre for Learning and Discovery (Room 3020), and is open to all students, staff, faculty and the public.