Looking ahead at 2025 for CEID
Students are back on campus and the spring 2025 semester is in full swing! Here’s a look at upcoming work you can expect from CEID over the next few months.
Museum of Science collaborations
We are excited to announce a partnership with Boston’s Museum of Science, designed to engage with audiences of all ages on our work of fighting infectious disease threats. Over the course of this spring and next fall, catch our collaborative programming and events!
First, the museum’s PK12 Education division is filming a series of videos for their Engineering Antivirals unit, including conversations about STEM careers, led by students from Fenway High School. In February, CEID faculty Dr. Cassandra Pierre and Dr. Laura White will be participating in these conversations, sharing their expertise for this curriculum that will be freely available online. Further educational media from the museum featuring additional CEID faculty is planned for later in the year.
Then: Do you want to try your hand at being an outbreak responder? CEID will be co-hosting an Outbreak Forum at the Museum of Science on Thursday, May 8th at 7:00-9:00 PM. This workshop will allow participants to walk through the decision-making process of responding to a new infectious disease threat.
Participants will work together to consider the many factors that play into these decisions, including availability of funding, testing and surveillance development, global partnerships, distribution of medical countermeasures, and alerts from the Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network (BEACON). Keep reading for more on BEACON!
Along with the team at the Museum of Science, CEID is also developing an exhibit geared toward visitors of all ages. Starting from receiving an alert from BEACON, the display will help museum visitors visualize the steps of decision making in responding to an emerging infectious disease outbreak. Look out for this exhibit, which will go on display in the second half of this year, the next time you’re at the Museum of Science!
And in the fall- put it on your calendar! CEID will be hosting an event on climate change and infectious diseases with MoS!
“Advances in Global Disease Surveillance: An Introduction to BEACON” – Thursday, April 24th
This spring’s installment of our semi-annual symposium series will center around the highly anticipated launch of the Biothreats Emergence, Analysis and Communications Network (BEACON), a new program at Boston University which merges emerging infectious diseases surveillance, a global network of moderators who are subject matter experts and the power of artificial intelligence and large language models. BEACON is an open source, informal outbreak surveillance program dedicated to the rapid collection, vetting, reporting, and analysis of information on emerging threats affecting humans, domestic animals, wildlife, plants and the environment globally. It is based at Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases (CEID) and operated in partnership with the Hariri Institute for Computing and Data Sciences at Boston University and HealthMap at Boston Children’s Hospital. Funded by National Science Foundation, the Gates Foundation and through support from the University, BEACON is poised to become an irreplaceable global public good, filling a critical and timely need.
This launch event will be held on the afternoon of Thursday, April 24th on Boston University’s campus at 665 Commonwealth Ave, Room 1750, Boston, MA. The event will feature two panel discussions and keynote address with public health and government leaders from the United States and around the globe, as well as a demonstration of the BEACON platform. The event will conclude with a reception for all speakers and attendees. A full list of panel speakers will be confirmed soon. We hope we will see you there!
To keep up with the latest news on these and other upcoming programming from CEID, sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media!