Ethics and Pandemic Science: A National Dialogue

Abstract

“Ethics and Pandemic Science: A National Dialogue” was a collaborative two-day event hosted by Virginia Tech’s Community Empowerment for Pandemic Prediction and Prevention (COMPASS) Center, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF). This event was held at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in Washington, DC, on November 12th and 13th, 2024. The purpose of the event was to bring together community leaders, scholars in pandemic sciences, representatives from federal agencies, and other members of the research ecosystem to engage in a guided dialogue about the ethical concerns about research on pandemic science topics. The goal was to leverage experiential knowledge and understand local community concerns of conducting pandemic research going forward. Participants agreed on the importance of a collaborative forum to bring together community voices that will inform pandemic science research over the next decade.