About this talk
In his TEDMED 2020 Talk, Pandemic Prevention Expert, Matt Hepburn, paints a realistic but hopeful picture of the COVID-19 outbreak and broader pandemic landscape. As he says, “The pandemic is here and this is serious…This is a very complex problem as everybody knows, there’s public health, there’s medicine, there’s quarantine, there’s social distancing, there’s wash your hands…but there are three strategic building blocks that I think will make a huge difference.”
Watch Matt’s Talk “3 building blocks for pandemic prevention that inspire optimism” to learn how the strategic building blocks—advanced technology, global cooperation, and political will—are at the heart of containing the current pandemic, and at the root of stopping a future pandemic before it starts.
The views and opinions contained in the following presentation by Dr. Matthew Hepburn, including any follow-up comments he may make in regards to the same, are those of Dr. Hepburn’s and do not necessarily represent the views of the Department of Defense or its components, including the U.S. Army. Nothing contained within the speech attributed to Dr. Hepburn is to be used to endorse or advertise a non-Federal entity’s products, services, and/or events.
About Matt Hepburn
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About Matt
Dr. Matt Hepburn is a retired U.S. Army infectious diseases physician and a leading expert in preparing for future pandemics. After serving for 23 years, he now leads a Department of Defense effort called Enabling Technologies, with the intention of quickly creating new vaccines and treatments to protect against future infectious disease threats. Matt’s approach is rooted in the idea that new technologies can help us solve these complex problems. His deep knowledge of this area comes from his six-year tenure as a program manager at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he was responsible for developing high-tech solutions to major challenges. Before his time at DARPA, he served as the Director of Medical Preparedness on the White House National Security Staff, a role that focused on national readiness for health crises. During his military career, he was deployed to Iraq as a Chief Medical Officer for a hospital and worked on numerous international projects to build partnerships in public health and clinical research. Matt’s career shows a consistent dedication to protecting public health through a combination of military experience, high-tech innovation, and national policy.
