Events Archive

The second annual Global Forum on Scientific Advances Important to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, facilitated engagement between leading scientists and States Parties delegations to raise awareness about emerging biological capabilities, expand the community dedicated to bolstering nonproliferation norms, and explore solutions for biological weapons challenges.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in partnership with the World Economic Forum and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation hosted Event 201, a high-level pandemic exercise on October 18, 2019, in New York, NY. The purpose of the exercise was to illustrate the pandemic preparedness efforts, response decisions, and cooperation required from global businesses, governments, and public health leaders that the world will need to diminish the large-scale economic and societal consequences of a severe pandemic.

On Friday, July 26, 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Tianjin University Center for Biosafety Research and Strategy co-hosted an event that brought together leading experts and emerging leaders from China and the US to discuss the ways, both positive and negative, that synthetic biology may alter the social and economic frameworks of modern humanity.

• Center news: August 14, 2019

On July 16, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and Ginkgo Bioworks convened a meeting in Washington, DC, to solicit stakeholder input on specific ways that national policy can strengthen the US bioeconomy. The aims of the meeting were to consider the benefits to the US if its bioeconomy were to be expanded; examine the current health of the US bioeconomy; discuss existing US government programs, policies, and initiatives related to the bioeconomy; and identify priorities for strengthening the US bioeconomy.

• RFI Response: Bioeconomy
• Meeting report: Summary of Recommendations on The US Bioeconomy: Maximizing Opportunities for Economic Growth and National Security with Biology (PDF)
• Center news: August 12, 2019
• Project page: Maximizing the US Bioeconomy for Economic Growth and National Security

The Center recently co-hosted the 2019 meeting of the Strategic Multilateral Dialogue on Biosecurity with the Thailand Ministry of Public Health Department of Disease Control in Phuket, Thailand. The three-day convening began on April 28 and brought together current and former senior government officials, policymakers, and other biosecurity experts from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.

• Center news: May 29, 2019
• Project page: Multilateral Biosecurity Dialogue with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States

With support from the Open Philanthropy Project, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted a one-day meeting on April 9, 2019 in Washington, DC to discuss the 2010 US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) guidelines for providers of double stranded synthetic DNA. Invited speakers and audience members discussed potential steps that the US government and provides could take to increase biosecurity in gene synthesis.

• Project page: Policy Options for Gene Synthesis

In February 2019, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted the sixth dialogue on biosecurity between senior experts and leaders from the United States and the Republic of India. The purposes of this dialogue are to increase knowledge of prevention and response efforts for natural, deliberate, and accidental biological threats in India and the United States; to look for new synergies and share best practices and innovations; to examine opportunities for partnership and collaboration; to develop and deepen relationships between dialogue participants; and to identify issues that may warrant being brought to the attention of the Indian or US government.

• Meeting report: US-India Strategic Dialogue on Biosecurity, Report on the sixth dialogue session (PDF)
• Project page: US - India Biosecurity Dialogue

The first annual Global Forum on Scientific Advances Important to the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, addressed rapidly emerging advancements in biology and biotechnology and their impact on bioweapons nonproliferation policy.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security offered an expenses-paid biosecurity fellowship opportunity in conjunction with SynBioBeta 2018: The Global Synthetic Biology Summit. The program is sponsored by the Open Philanthropy Project.

In September 2018, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted the fifth dialogue on biosecurity between senior experts and leaders from the United States and the Republic of India. The purposes of this dialogue are to increase knowledge of prevention and response efforts for natural, deliberate, and accidental biological threats in India and the United States; look for new synergies and share best practices and innovations; examine opportunities for partnership and collaboration; develop and deepen relationships between dialogue participants; and identify issues that may warrant being brought to the attention of the Indian or US government.

• Meeting report: US-India Strategic Dialogue on Biosecurity, Report on the fifth dialogue session (PDF)
• Project page: US - India Biosecurity Dialogue

To gather broad input on the forthcoming US Global Health Security Strategy, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security convened more than 70 public and private sector global health security stakeholders for a meeting on July 30, 2018, in Washington, DC. The purpose of the meeting was for stakeholders to engage in discussion regarding the US Global Health Security Strategy and provide recommendations to the USG for this strategy.

• Meeting report: Summary of Key Recommendations: Meeting to Solicit Stakeholder Input on forthcoming US Global Health Security Strategy (PDF)

On July 10, 2018, in Washington, DC, the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted a meeting on global health security in South Asia. The goal of the meeting was to discuss health security challenges in South Asia and to identify opportunities for implementation of health security initiatives.

• Meeting report: Global Health Security in South Asia (PDF)

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security hosted the Clade X pandemic tabletop exercise on May 15, 2018, in Washington, DC. The purpose of the exercise was to illustrate high-level strategic decisions and policies that the United States and the world will need to pursue in order to prevent a pandemic or diminish its consequences should prevention fail.

No information available.

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security conducted a Track II multilateral biosecurity dialogue between Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States—with observers from the Philippines and Thailand—in Nusa Dua, Indonesia on April 18-20, 2018. Dialogue topics included national biosecurity priorities as well as ongoing and emerging biosecurity threats facing Southeast Asia countries, ranging from emerging infectious diseases to advances in biotechnology to bioterrorism.

• Meeting report: Strategic Multilateral Biosecurity Dialogue among Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States with Participating Observers from the Philippines and Thailand : Meeting Report from the 2018 Dialogue Session (PDF)
• Project page: Multilateral Biosecurity Dialogue with Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the United States

The report, “A Framework for Healthcare Disaster Resilience: A View to the Future,” was released at a February 22 event at the National Press Club.

• Report: A Framework for Healthcare Disaster Resilience: A View to the Future (PDF)

The Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security moderate a panel discussion with participants involved in an ongoing SE Asian Biosecurity Dialogue between Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Philippines, and the United States. This is a unique "Track 2" (non-Ministerial level) diplomatic dialogue that promotes engagement to improve national and regional response to natural, accidental, and deliberate biological events.

• PMAC Side Event: The Value of Multilateral Engagement and a Global Health Security Index in Reducing the Threat Posed by Emerging Infectious Diseases