UC Davis Live Talks June 3 And 4 Will Focus On Coronavirus Vaccines And Testing

Press release from the University of California, Davis:

May 29, 2020

Experts from UC Davis and around the country will hold two online talks next week to discuss the progress being made in testing for and vaccinating against COVID-19.

The first is the third online symposium organized and moderated by Walter Leal, distinguished professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. It will take place Wednesday (June 3) from 5 to 7 p.m. on Zoom and YouTube, and will focus primarily on vaccines.

Leal and other panelists will be joined by Robert Gallo, the virologist who co-discovered that HIV is the cause of AIDS.

REGISTER FOR THE TALKS

• 5-7 p.m. Wednesday: Online symposium on COVID-19, focused on vaccines. Register, submit questions and see the program.
• 11:30 a.m. Thursday: UC Davis LIVE: COVID-19, focused on testing. Submit questions in advance via Facebook.

Gallo is a distinguished professor at the University of Maryland's School of Medicine. He will be joined by Dr. Dean Blumberg, professor and chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, UC Davis Health; and Dr. Allison Brashear, dean of the UC Davis School of Medicine; Professor Atul Malhotra, UC San Diego Health; Dr. Stuart H. Cohen, chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases and director of Hospital Epidemiology and Infection Control, UC Davis School of Medicine; and Statewide Extension apiculturist Elina Lastro Niño. Chancellor Gary S. May will deliver opening remarks.

UC Davis LIVE to center on testing

The following day will mark the third installment of UC Davis LIVE: COVID-19, focusing on coronavirus testing and featuring two UC Davis Health clinicians.

Nam Tran and Larissa May will answer questions on the different types of tests, their accuracy and how they are being used as health officials take steps to reopen the state and the country.

Tran is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at UC Davis. At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in California, Tran worked with colleagues to develop UC Davis’ own in-house test for SARS-CoV-2 based on samples from the first patient treated at UC Davis. In April, he was appointed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s COVID-19 Testing Task Force, a public-private collaboration to more quickly increase coronavirus testing capacity.

Larissa May, professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at UC Davis, is the principal investigator for a study of antibodies to coronavirus in employees. As part of the study, selected UC Davis employees are being offered a test for antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 developed at UC Davis. Larissa May is also the director of the Emergency Department Antibiotic Stewardship Program and has been involved in emergency preparedness around infectious disease outbreaks.

The conversation, hosted by Soterios Johnson, will be streamed live on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter beginning at 11:30 a.m. Thursday.

Questions can be submitted via Facebook either in advance or during the show.

This press release was produced by the University of California, Davis. The views expressed here are the author’s own.