“A Push to Prevent the Next Pandemic” – Fletcher and Tufts at the forefront of a global fight against viruses

A panel of Tufts experts will lead a $100 million USAID program to prevent future viral pandemics. The Strategies to Prevent Spillover program (STOP Spillover) will work with countries at high risk for animal-based viruses to “spillover” into humans, as is believed to have been the case with Ebola, SARS, MERS and COVID-19.

Deborah Kochever, senior fellow at Fletcher and former Henry and Lois Foster Professor at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, will serve as program director of the initiative. The Tufts team additionally includes experts from the School of Medicine, School of Engineering, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science Policy, and the Feinstein International Center, bringing a thoroughly interdisciplinary response to a crisis that demands multiple areas of expertise.

Read more about the initiative here.