COVID-19 exposed critical failures in how nations, institutions, and individuals prepare for pandemics. Supply chains broke. Communication failed. Trust collapsed. And the world learned — painfully — that preparedness is not the same as response.
Dr. Paul Kilgore brings a perspective that few speakers can match. As a former CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer trained to investigate outbreaks in real time, a principal investigator on COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, and an epidemiologist who has worked across approximately 30 countries, he has seen both sides of pandemic response: the science and the systems, the lab and the field, the data and the human cost.
This session examines what went right, what went wrong, and what must change before the next pandemic. Dr. Kilgore covers the epidemiological principles of outbreak containment, the structural weaknesses that COVID-19 exposed in public health infrastructure, the communication failures that fueled misinformation, and the concrete steps that governments, organizations, and individuals can take now to be better prepared. He draws on historical outbreaks, his own fieldwork, and the latest evidence on emerging infectious disease threats.
Attendees leave with an informed, realistic view of pandemic risk — and a practical preparedness framework they can apply at the organizational or personal level.

Format: Keynote or panel. Duration: 45–60 minutes. Target audience: Public health professionals, emergency management, corporate leadership, government officials, healthcare organizations, university audiences. AV needs: screen, microphone, HDMI.