2022 article

The Role of Leaders in a Pandemic

Swann, J. (2022, June 22).

By: J. Swann n 

co-author countries: United States of America πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡Έ
Source: ORCID
Added: August 17, 2022

The response to the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the complex systems in which a response takes place, including a global supply chain for critical medical products, a domestic supply chain for consumables like food at risk to major disruptions, and a numerous companies, government agencies, non-profits, healthcare entities, and others playing a role in effective response. Decision makers face limited resources and uncertainty, and they often have different objectives or constraints that drive their decisions. Science can help guide decision making, with methods ranging from game theory models in economics to disease modeling from epidemiology and virology to optimization models from engineering. Scientific advisors in the complex system also must think about how best to communicate in different environments and to different audiences. Julie Swann, Ph. D. will share her story as a scientific advisor on loan to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention during the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009-2010 and during the response to COVID-19. She will also talk about the evolution of becoming an advisor to decision makers, and the roles that students have had in various stages of the work.