Four pillars for building a pandemic-free future

We are approaching the third anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. By the time the pandemic was declared on March 11, 2020 — 4,291 people had died of the novel coronavirus.

On that day, the WHO general director was unequivocal: “We cannot say this loudly enough, or clearly enough, or often enough: all countries can still change the course of this pandemic.”

Did we, as a global community, answer that call?

We know that millions of people would die of COVID-19. Today, the number of deaths stands at more than 6.8 million. We know it’s going to take more than urgent appeals from global health leaders to prevent another pandemic. It’s going to take more than vaccines and health policies and people of good will.

But what is it going to take?

At the Global Nexus we see a new way forward. Building on decades of world-leading infection and immunity research at McMaster University, we are an innovation hub tackling infectious diseases from all angles. Our researchers are developing new vaccines and evidence-based solutions, but we are also educating the next generation of scientists and scholars in new ways, and we are engaged and learning from community members.

Our unique approach is built on a foundation of four pillars:

• Education and Training: Preparing future leaders and experts who can integrate science with the complex realities of society.
• Research and Innovation: Developing evidence-based rapid responses to the biological threats that challenge our social and health care systems
• Communities: Fostering trust among diverse groups and committing to Indigenization, accessibility, equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-racism
• Impact: Forging strong partnerships, informing evidence-based policies and commercializing research to move new vaccines, diagnostics and drugs to society rapidly.

It’s a bold vision but as we watch drug-resistant infections and tuberculosis each kill more than one million people in a single year we know COVID-19 is not our last health threat.

McMaster University is the place for this innovation hub to grow. Its history of creating both problem-based learning, which transformed education in universities around the world, and evidence-based medicine, which is regarded as one of the most important innovations to shape modern medicine, demonstrates that McMaster can challenge convention and make a global impact. The viral vector COVID-19 vaccines that saved millions of lives around the world were built upon decades of innovation at McMaster University.

Global Nexus is our opportunity to build on this legacy and serve humanity for decades to come.