Bringing together leaders from universities in California, China, Singapore and Australia, UCLA and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities are co-hosting an online seminar focused on crisis management and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event, “Perspectives of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Epidemiology, Prevention and Control in Pacific Rim Region,” (which will begin at 5 p.m. PDT on Tuesday, Sept. 29), has been organized in coordination with Peking University, National University of Singapore, and the University of Sydney, and will include presenters from all four universities, addressing:

  • Singapore’s response and mobilizing surge capacity
  • The recent Beijing COVID-19 outbreak and China’s COVID-19 perspectives
  • Risk communication and COVID-19
  • How much protection do face coverings offer?
  • California’s and Los Angeles’ COVID-19 status and the U.S. perspectives

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities, founded in 1997 in Los Angeles, is a consortium of the presidents of 51 leading research universities from around the Pacific Rim, and includes 200,000 academic staff and 2 million students. UCLA Chancellor Gene Block chairs the association and will welcome attendees to the event with a pre-recorded message.

UCLA Fielding School of Public Health Dean Ron Brookmeyer, distinguished professor of biostatistics, and Dr. Zuo-Feng Zhang, associate dean for research and distinguished professor of epidemiology, will serve as co-moderators of the event, with presentations from five leading scientists.

The presenters, including three Fielding School faculty members, will compare and contrast the epidemiological patterns and intervention strategies (e.g., use of face masks, risk communication, social distancing, personal hygiene, stay at home orders, contact tracing and isolating) among four countries in the Pacific Rim region which have different patterns of COVID-19 in incidence and mortality. The panel will also summarize lessons learned, potential challenges, and opportunities for control of the pandemic.

The speakers include:

  • Yik-Ying Teo, dean of Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore
  • Dr. Zunyou Wu, chief epidemiologist and director, division of HIV prevention, NCAIDS/China CD; Wu is also an adjunct professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, and an alumnus.
  • Julie Leask, Sydney Nursing School and School of Public Health, faculty of medicine and health, the University of Sydney
  • Yifang Zhu, associate dean for academic programs and professor of environmental health sciences in the Fielding School
  • Dr. Timothy Brewer, professor of epidemiology at the Fielding School and a professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

This event is the first collaborative webinar of the APRU’s crisis management working group. A series of related presentations will follow on Sept. 30 in Singapore, Beijing and Sydney. For more information about the next webinar.