Media Alert For COVID-19 Global Scientific Summit July 28 | 2 PM - 5:30 PM GMT | 10 AM - 1:30 PM ET

WHEN: 

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

2 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. GMT | 10 a.m. – 1:30 p.m. EDT | Virtual video event

To submit questions for panelists, please contact:

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Roger Frizzell  |  [email protected]  |  (305) 406-7862

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Ellie Beuerman  |  [email protected]  |  (504) 994-9673

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World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Press Office |  [email protected]

WHERE:

To register for the event, click here:  https://covidsciencesummit.com/

You will receive an email with a webcast link prior to the start of the event.

WHAT: 

The WTTC/Carnival Corporation Global Scientific Summit on COVID-19 is being presented to help the general public, businesses and civic/community leaders continue building an understanding of the facts about COVID-19.

The event will include a series of panels focusing on critical areas of science related to COVID-19. During a combination of accessible science-based discussions sharing the latest knowledge of key topic areas, speakers will examine real-time insights and the most up-to-date scientific findings from across all fields of knowledge in the public and private sectors, including:

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Epidemiology:  Incubation and peak infectivity periods for COVID-19; disease progression from exposure to illness; and symptom variability.

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Transmission:  How, when and where COVID-19 spreads; significance of environmental transmission; guidelines for mitigating spread.

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Screening and Testing:  Availability and accuracy of current testing methods; viable and cost-effective ways to detect illness and effectiveness of various screening methods.

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Therapeutics:  Status of vaccine development; available and approved COVID-19 treatment protocols and profiles of COVID-19 recovery.

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Practical Risk Mitigation:  The best approaches to mitigating spread; the key elements of protocols and behaviors needed to live in a world with the virus.

The event is designed for the general public and free to attend; registration is now open.

WHO: 

The virtual Summit is hosted by World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC), which represents the global travel and tourism private sector, and Carnival Corporation, the world's largest cruise company. Event moderators include:

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Arnold Donald, president & CEO, Carnival Corporation 

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Gloria Guevara, president & CEO, WTTC

Donald and Guevara will encourage straightforward, easy-to-understand discussions among a group of top medical, epidemiology and public health experts, including the following two health leaders just recently added from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (in alphabetical order):

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Dr. Stacey L. Schultz-Cherry, PhD, faculty member, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and co-principal investigator, St Jude Center for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance. An expert in virus pathogenesis novel vaccines and therapeutics and microbial co-infection, she is also deputy director, World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals & Birds.

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Dr. Joshua Wolf, PhD, MBBS, associate faculty member and pediatric infectious diseases physician, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and medical director of antimicrobial stewardship and program lead for hematology and oncology infectious diseases for the organization. He is an expert in infections in immunocompromised children, with a research program dedicated to improving survival in children with cancer by prediction, prevention and amelioration of life-threatening infections.

The St. Jude representatives join the following lineup of world-renowned experts representing a diverse range of science, research, clinical, academic, policy and business backgrounds including members of Scientists to Stop COVID-19: (in alphabetical order):

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Dr. Thomas J. Cahill, MD, PhD, founder and managing partner of Newpath Management, L.P. He earned both his MD and PhD from Duke University. His PhD work with professor Robert Lefkowitz (Nobel laureate) focused on studying cellular receptors and their signaling to inform novel drug development and discovery.

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Dr. Julio Frenk, MD, MPH, PhD, president of the University of Miami, professor of public health sciences, the Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, and professor of health sector management and policy, the Patti and Allan Herbert School of Business. He served as the Minister of Health of Mexico, helping to reform the nation's health system by introducing comprehensive universal coverage, known as Seguro Popular.

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Dr. Adolfo Garcia-Sastre, PhD, director, Global Health & Emerging Pathogens Institute, The Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai and professor of microbiology and medicine, infectious disease. He has focused on a wide variety of viral pathogens, as well as host-pathogen interactions, and vaccine and anti-viral drug development.

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Dr. Steven Gordon, MD, chairman, department of infectious disease, Cleveland Clinic, Respiratory Institute and professor of medicine, The Lerner College of Medicine, Case Western University. He has focused on hospital infection prevention, including device-associated and opportunistic infections in immunocompromised patients.

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Dr. Michael Z. Lin, MD, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology, bioengineering, and chemical and systems biology at Stanford University. A NIH Pioneer Award recipient, he develops protein based tools for molecular imaging and control of gene and viral therapy.

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Dr. William Morice, II, MD, PhD, chair, department of laboratory medicine and pathology at Mayo Clinic, president, Mayo Clinic Laboratories, and professor of laboratory medicine and pathology. He is an expert in diagnostic testing, serving in leadership roles for numerous boards and partnerships to enhance understanding of clinical diagnostics and test utilization.

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Dr. Jewel Mullen, MD, MPH, associate dean for health equity, University of Texas at Austin, Dell Medical School. She is an internist, epidemiologist and public health physician leader and the former principal deputy assistant secretary for health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Dr. Vivek Murthy, MD, MBA, author, former vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and 19th Surgeon General of the United States. In that role, he created initiatives to tackle the country's most urgent public-health issues, including the Ebola and Zika viruses, obesity, mental health, and the opioid crisis.

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Dr. Michael Rosbash, PhD, is the 2017 Nobel laureate in physiology or medicine, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, a professor of biology at Brandeis University, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is a pioneer of chronobiology, the study of how living systems sense and respond to time.

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Dr. Stuart Schreiber, PhD, professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard University and co-founder of the Broad Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a founder of Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Ariad Pharmaceuticals, Infinity Pharmaceuticals, Forma Therapeutics, H3 Biomedicine and Jnana Therapeutics. He co-pioneered the field of chemical biology.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: 

This Summit will be of interest to the general public, as well as global tourism leaders, including WTTC Members, government agencies, destination partners, trade partners and private businesses seeking valuable insight on how best to apply the latest science and medical-evidence to address the many practical questions people have about living in a world with COVID-19. The open discussion will be helpful as businesses and governments alike seek to better understand COVID-19's impact on society, and as together global citizens join forces to consider safe and practical evidence-based practices for mitigating and living with the virus.

MORE INFO: 

Media are invited to submit potential questions for panelists in advance by contacting:

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Frizzell  |  [email protected]  |  (305) 406-7862

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Ellie Beuerman |  [email protected] |  (504) 994-9673

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WTTC Press Office |  [email protected]