America’s Response to Covid: What Have We Learned?

Dr. David Alain Wohl is a professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of North Carolina (UNC) and the Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases. He is co-Principal Investigator of the Global UNC Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Unit and Site Leader of its Chapel Hill research site. A clinical scientist with a focus on emerging infectious diseases, Wohl has spent over 25 years leading research into the prevention and treatment of HIV and served two terms as a member of the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) Antiretroviral Guidelines Panel. In 2020, he was actively involved in UNC’s clinical and research response to COVID-19. He designed and served as Medical Director of the UNC Chapel Hill drive through testing site as well as two mass COVID-19 vaccination clinics and the Chapel Hill COVID-19 monoclonal antibody infusion center. He served as a Co-Chair of ACTIV-2, an Operation Warp Speed international platform trial of promising SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics.  His clinical COVID-19 activities led to his being named “Tar Heel of the Month” by the Raleigh News & Observer in November 2020.

What can we learn from America’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic?  How should policymakers deal with future pandemics?  In a recent book co-authored with Stephen Macedo, Princeton professor Frances Lee argues that public health experts, policy makers, and the media failed to adequately consider the costs of lockdowns. In a conversation moderated by UNC public policy professor Douglas MacKay, Lee will discuss America’s response to COVID-19 with David Wohl, an infectious disease expert at UNC who helped lead the campus’s clinical and research response.