UC Davis-Based COVID-19 Symposium on Thursday, April 23
UC Davis distinguished professor Walter Leal of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, College of Biological Sciences, is organizing and moderating the public awareness project.
The public is invited to submit advance questions here, https://bit.ly/2z4ULdw, where they can also register to attend via Zoom. Registrants will be provided a link to the free symposium and a reminder. The COVID-19 project also will be live-streamed free on Leal's Biochemistry Channel on YouTube at http://covidactionplan.com/
“It is heartbreaking to hear the number of people dying every day,” said Leal, who also coordinated a 2016 public awareness symposium on the UC Davis campus on the mosquito-borne Zika virus. “We have well-qualified people to address questions from the populace, so I thought I would put my organizing skills and experience with modern teaching technologies at the service of the public.”
Chancellor May, who has served as chancellor since Aug. 1, 2017, leads the most comprehensive campus in the University of California system, with four colleges and six professional schools. He regularly updates the campus community on the coronavirus pandemic/. Globally, the research-oriented Johns Hopkins University of Medicine, Baltimore, maintains a Covid-19 dashboard on its website.
The main speakers are UC Davis physician-scientists Emanuel Maverakis, Stuart Cohen and Nathan Kuppermann; UC Davis veterinarian-scientist Nicole Baumgarth; physician Ron Chapman, Yolo County Health Officer; and pediatrician State Sen. Richard Pan, District 6 chair, Senate Committee on Health.
Maverakis is a professor in the Departments of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, and Dermatology, UC Davis School of Medicine. A fellow of the California Academy of Sciences, he is known for its work in the field of predictive modeling, as well as for the development of novel analysis tools for immunogenetics. He received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director's New Innovator Award, and a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers from President Barack Obama.
Cohen is professor and chief of Division of Infectious Diseases and director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, UC Davis School of Medicine. He specializes in clinical infectious diseases and infection control in the hospital environment.
Chapman, the Yolo County Health Officer, is also a health strategist consultant focused on helping health departments build quality improvement and performance management systems. He earlier served as director and State Health Officer, California Department of Public Health.
Kuppermann, an emergency physician for UC Davis Health, is professor and chair, Department of Emergency Medicine, UC Davis School of Medicine. The recipient of the Academic Senate's 2020 Faculty Research Award, Kuppermann is member of the National Academy of Medicine and principal investigator of the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network.
Baumgarth is a professor in the Center for Comparative Medicine, and the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. The Baumgarth laboratory investigates the basic immunological mechanisms that regulate and control immunity to pathogens.
State Sen. Pan, who represents the Sacramento region and chairs the Senate Health Committee is in close contact with the California Department of Public Health and monitoring the response to novel coronavirus outbreak. "Public health is about keeping our neighborhoods safe and healthy," he said in a press release on his website. "The COVID-19 pandemic is a stark reminder of the cost of not having a robust public health system in place. Our leaders need to be listening to public health experts and sharing accurate health information to save lives. Everyone deserves to live a long and healthy life in a safe environment."
In addition to the main speakers, presenters will provide information on such topics as face masks and modeling systems. You-Lo Hsieh, distinguished professor, UC Davis Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, and an expert on textiles and clothing, will explain the differences between regular masks, surgical masks, and N95 masks, plus what the public can do when masks are unavailable. She researches polymer chemistry, fiber engineering and bio-based materials.
James R. Carey, UC Davis distinguished professor of entomology and an authority on population biology and scientific modeling, will share his expertise. He served as the principal investigator of a 10-year, $10 million federal grant on “Aging in the Wild,” encompassing 14 scientists at 11 universities. Carey co-authored, with Deborah Roach of the University of Virginia, the newly published book, Biodemography: An Introduction to Concepts and Methods<, published Jan. 7 by the Princeton University Press. It is described as “an authoritative overview of the concepts and applications of biological demography.” (See news story.)
Leal, a former professor and chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology (now the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology), is the newly selected recipient of the Distinguished Achievement Award in Teaching, given by the Pacific Branch, Entomological Society of America, and the recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Teaching Award for Undergraduate Teaching, sponsored by the UC Davis Academic Senate.