Abstract:
The sciences and policymakers play complementary roles in crafting public health responses. While often acting harmoniously, because of the differences in assessing risk and crafting recommendations, there can be friction in the process of decision-making. Examining influenza pandemic responses—notably in the 1976 Swine flu pandemic and the Novel Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic in 2009—highlights times when there was discordance between researchers and policymakers in crafting policy responses.
Biography of Speaker:
Professor Dehner is a world environmental historian who examines the intersection of humans and disease in the modern era. His first book Influenza: A Century of Science and Public Health was published in April 2012 by the University of Pittsburgh Press. His second book Global Flu and You: A History of Influenza was published in December 2012 by Reaktion Press. His article “WHO Knows Best? National and International Responses to Pandemic Threats and the ‘Lessons’ of 1976” published in the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences received the 2011 Margaret T. Lane/Virginia F. Saunders Memorial Research Award by the American Library Association Government DocumentsRoundtable. He is currently beginning a research project on Legionnaires’ Disease. Professor Dehner has recently presented his perspectives in “Influenza pandemics since Russian Flu: Do they provide insight to COVID-19?”, as part of a Fairmont College of Liberal Arts and Sciences series, Perspective on the Pandemic.