May 4, 2023

Philip Zelikow

Harvard Book Store welcomes PHILIP ZELIKOW—White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia and member of the American Academy of Diplomacy—for a discussion of his new book Lessons from the Covid War: An Investigative Report. He will be joined in conversation by Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, DR. RICHARD J. HATCHETT and Assistant Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, KENDALL HOYT.

Details

Our national leaders have drifted into treating the pandemic as though it were an unavoidable natural catastrophe, repeating a depressing cycle of panic followed by neglect. So a remarkable group of practitioners and scholars from many backgrounds came together determined to discover and learn lessons from this latest world war.

Lessons from the Covid War is plain-spoken and clear sighted. It cuts through the enormous jumble of information to make some sense of it all and answer: What just happened to us, and why? And crucially, how, next time, could we do better? Because there will be a next time.

The Covid war showed Americans that their wondrous scientific knowledge had run far ahead of their organized ability to apply it in practice. Improvising to fight this war, many Americans displayed ingenuity and dedication. But they struggled with systems that made success difficult and failure easy.

This book shows how Americans can come together, learn hard truths, build on what worked, and prepare for global emergencies to come.

A joint effort from:

Danielle Allen • John M. Barry • John Bridgeland • Michael Callahan • Nicholas A. Christakis • Doug Criscitello • Charity Dean • Victor Dzau • Gary Edson • Ezekiel Emanuel • Ruth Faden • Baruch Fischhoff • Margaret “Peggy” Hamburg • Melissa Harvey • Richard Hatchett • David Heymann • Kendall Hoyt • Andrew Kilianski • James Lawler • Alexander J. Lazar • James Le Duc • Marc Lipsitch • Anup Malani • Monique K. Mansoura • Mark McClellan • Carter Mecher • Michael Osterholm • David A. Relman • Robert Rodriguez • Carl Schramm • Emily Silverman • Kristin Urquiza • Rajeev Venkayya • Philip Zelikow

About Author(s)

Philip Zelikow is the White Burkett Miller Professor of History at the University of Virginia, where he has also served as dean of the Graduate School and director of the Miller Center. His scholarly work has focused on critical episodes in American and world history. He is one of the few individuals ever to serve on the President’s Intelligence Advisory Boards for presidents of both parties, in the administrations of George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He has also been a member of the Defense Policy Board for Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and a member of the board of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. In 2020, he was elected a member of the American Academy of Diplomacy.
Kendall Hoyt is an Assistant Professor at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and a Senior Lecturer at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College where she teaches courses on biosecurity, health systems, and technological innovation. Her research is focused on health security, innovation policy, and vaccine development. She serves on the US Covid Commission Planning Group. She has served as a consultant for the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. She is the author of Long Shot: Vaccines for National Defense, Harvard University Press, 2012.
Richard J. Hatchett, MD, is Chief Executive Officer of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, or CEPI – a global partnership that supports the swift development of and equitable access to new vaccines and other defenses against infectious diseases with epidemic and pandemic potential. Dr Hatchett’s and CEPI’s plan is for the world to neutralize those pandemic threats with prescient investment in scientific R&D. Before taking on the CEPI leadership just after its launch in 2017, Dr Hatchett was Acting Director of the U.S. Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). He has also served under two U.S. Presidents – George W. Bush and Barack Obama – as Director of Medical Preparedness Policy on the Homeland and National Security Councils. Dr Hatchett has a medical degree from Vanderbilt and completed clinical training in internal medicine and medical oncology at Cornell and Duke.