Dr. Jay Varma

Weaknesses in the United States laboratory system, which were illuminated during the COVID-19 pandemic, underscore a need for policy changes to improve the country’s infectious disease response.

Dr. Jay Varma, a professor of population health sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, has received a six-month, $1 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to assess how countries around the world have been monitoring and reporting COVID-19 infections and outcomes during the pandemic.

For Dr. Jay Varma, the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the powerful, pressing role of governments, academic medical centers and other organizations to work together on emerging health threats.