Pandemic threats remain. That much is clear. COVID-19 likely isn’t the end of it, and a better response is critical.
How do we prepare and mitigate? Can we stop pandemics from happening? Will future computing technologies close the gaps in health and computing systems?
Katie Siek, professor of Informatics, and YY Ahn, professor of Informatics and Computing, at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering, are at the forefront of research geared toward finding those answers, and more. Siek was a key organizer of the Future of Pandemic Response and Prevention workshop. Ahn was a workshop participant.
The two-day event in Ann Arbor, Mich., was organized and sponsored by the Computing Community Consortium, which aims to unite industry, academia and government to pursue innovative, world-changing research.
The workshop gathered leaders in healthcare, computer science, epidemiology and social sciences, including experts who oversaw COVID-19 response at the front line, to address pandemic challenges, analyze what lessons were learned and what actions could be taken.
Computational opportunities were explored relating to forecasting and disease spread, as well as disease evolution, automated notification systems, logistics and supply allocation, interventions and vaccines, and genomic medicine to ensure society is better prepared.
It was, Siek said, an opportunity to “reflect and brainstorm.”
Key workshop questions included, How does this work? Can tech do this? Does medicine still work like that?
“In a sense,” Siek said, “we broke down silos to learn from each other and make a set of recommendations on where to invest in computing to improve our preparation for avoiding and preparing for a future pandemic.”
Ahn said the goal was “how computing can help us better prepare for the next pandemic, which will almost certainly happen due to the increasing deforestation, climate change, etc.”
During the workshop, pandemic emergency simulations were conducted to determine what computational tools are available and evaluate potential gaps that researchers at the intersection of computing and health can fill.
Siek, a workshop report author and a Computing Community Consortium council member, said impetus for the event started early in the pandemic when a Computing Community Consortium task force of researchers from all over the country met on Zoom to brainstorm.
Siek said many of those Zoom sessions were interrupted by children popping into view to get help in accessing their e-learning, or the noise of 3D printers making masks.
“We realized we were seeing so many shortcomings of tech and opportunities for tech,” Siek said, “that we decided, when all this calms down, we need to write this up.”
Siek said researchers realized they needed ‘more voices at the table,” specifically experts in healthcare, public health and more. The workshop was the result.
Findings showcased that computational models are critical during pandemics to anticipate hospital supply needs, determine the care capacity of hospital and social-service providers and project disease spread. This can help save lives and improve community leader policy decision making.
It requires accurate data, and a modernized public health infrastructure necessary to acquire and store it. This includes AI as well as traditional strategies and techniques.
One conclusion was that transparency and better communication build much-needed trust.
Ahn said the workshop showcased how today’s research will help improve response for future pandemics.
“I think it was very productive,” he said. “It revealed what we still lack in our society for the pandemic preparedness and how likely we are to fall into similar problems and traps. There is a lot to be done during the “peacetime” not to repeat the same mistakes that happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.”