Global Virus Network Meeting Advances a Science-Driven Agenda for Pandemic Preparedness
World-leading virologists highlight advances in antiviral therapeutics, artificial intelligence, immunology, and global surveillance shaping how future pandemics may be detected and controlled.
TAMPA, FL (April 2, 2026): Artificial intelligence capable of predicting viral evolution months before dangerous variants emerge, next-generation antivirals designed to overcome limitations of current COVID-19 therapies, and advances in vaccine design and viral pathogenesis that could reshape how infectious and chronic viral diseases are understood and treated reflect the direction of current research emerging from the 2026 Global Virus Network (GVN) Annual International Scientific Meeting held March 4-6 at the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida.
The meeting, in partnership with USF Health and Tampa General Hospital Cancer Institute, brought together leading virologists, clinicians, epidemiologists, and public health experts from around the world to examine lessons from COVID-19 and share cutting-edge research shaping the future of pandemic preparedness. Nearly 150 participants attended in person, with an additional 88 joining remotely, reflecting the GVN's global reach and scope.
Across discussions, a consistent theme emerged: the scientific tools needed to confront future pandemics, including genomic and wastewater surveillance, artificial intelligence, antiviral drugs, and immunological strategies, are advancing rapidly. The central challenge, aside from funding, is ensuring these advances translate into real-world preparedness, including surveillance systems, healthcare infrastructure, and public trust.
“The most important advances in pandemic preparedness come from basic science,” said Robert C. Gallo, MD, co-founder and chair of the scientific leadership committee of the GVN and director of the USF Institute for Translational Virology & Innovation. “The vaccines, antivirals, and genomic technologies we rely on today exist because of decades of basic scientific discovery. Sustaining that scientific foundation is essential to confront future pandemics.” Dr. Gallo is renowned for pioneering human retrovirology, including his discovery of Human T-cell Leukemia Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1), co-discovery of HIV as the cause of AIDS, development of the HIV blood test, and foundational work on interleukin-2 (IL-2), which enabled T-cell growth in culture, made the discovery of human retroviruses possible, and helped lay the foundation for modern immunotherapy.
Gallo also emphasized the broader role of science in guiding public understanding. “A scientist is ultimately a catalyst for truth. The scientific method remains our most powerful tool for understanding emerging diseases and developing the solutions needed to confront them. But there is also a great need for much stronger public education in science and for consistent engagement from the media, not only during active pandemics, to help counter false information and misleading theories that can spread rapidly through social media.”
Scientific Advances Shaping Pandemic Preparedness
Among the scientific highlights was breakthrough research on next-generation inhibitors targeting the SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) presented by Wuyuan Lu, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at Fudan University in Shanghai, which could overcome limitations of existing COVID-19 therapies such as Paxlovid and represent a new generation of antiviral drugs against coronaviruses.
Researchers also showed how advances in artificial intelligence can predict viral evolution, using machine-learning models trained on large-scale genomic datasets to identify variants likely to emerge weeks or months before they become dominant.
“Artificial intelligence is giving us the ability to forecast viral evolution rather than simply react to it,” said Marco Salemi, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at the Emerging Pathogens Institute at the University of Florida. “With the right genomic surveillance data, these tools could help identify variants of concern long before they become dominant in the population.”
Complementing these advances, leading coronavirus experts Robert Garry, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at Tulane University with work in viral evolution and cross-species transmission, Linfa Wang, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at Duke-NUS Singapore and internationally known as “Batman” for his renowned expertise on bat-borne viruses, and Susan Weiss, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at the University of Pennsylvania, a National Academy of Science member with expertise in coronavirus biology and pathogenesis, presented data-driven insights into how coronaviruses evolve, recombine, and adapt across species. These findings reinforce that viral diversity in animal reservoirs and ongoing genetic change remain central challenges for predicting and preventing future spillover events.
Together, these advances signal a shift toward earlier anticipation of viral threats, with immunological strategies aimed at slowing infection and next-generation vaccines designed to overcome the limitations of strain-specific approaches.
“A major goal in influenza research is the development of a universal vaccine that can provide broad, durable protection across multiple strains,” said renowned influenza virologist Peter Palese, PhD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and member of the National Academy of Sciences. “By targeting conserved regions of the virus that are far less prone to mutation, we can move beyond the need to update vaccines year to year and significantly improve our ability to control influenza.”
Antiviral strategies designed to provide longer-lasting protection were also discussed as an additional layer of defense against respiratory viruses.
Beyond acute infection, researchers presented emerging evidence that viral infections may contribute to chronic and neurodegenerative diseases.
Igor Koralnik, MD, chief of the division of neuroinfectious diseases and global neurology at Northwestern University, presented new data suggesting that certain viral infections may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease. His findings, based on analyses of patient samples and associated immune responses, point to a potential role for the human pegivirus in disease onset and progression, highlighting a new direction in understanding the long-term neurological impact of viral infections.
Brett Giroir, MD, CEO of Altesa BioSciences and the former U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health who helped lead the federal COVID-19 testing response, presented novel research on antiviral approaches for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), showing how persistent viral activity may contribute to disease progression. The findings point to a growing recognition that viral infections can shape long-term chronic disease, opening new avenues for treatment.
Additional discussions underscored advances in the understanding of HTLV-1, a globally endemic virus associated with leukemia, neurological disease, and inflammatory disorders. Eduardo Gotuzzo, MD, a GVN Center of Excellence director at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Peru, emphasized that HTLV-1 challenges conventional virology models, as a single virus can cause multiple distinct diseases, while most infected individuals remain asymptomatic. Why this occurs remains a central question in the field, with current research focusing on how subtle viral and host factors drive divergent outcomes.
Detecting Emerging Threats and Strengthening Preparedness
Experts emphasized strengthening early detection systems for emerging pathogens, including integrating genomic sequencing, wastewater monitoring, environmental surveillance, and advanced analytics to identify outbreaks earlier and respond more rapidly.
Participants also stressed that scientific advances must translate into operational readiness within healthcare systems. In collaboration with Tampa General Hospital, GVN is advancing a Hospital Pandemic Playbook designed to help hospitals rapidly mobilize diagnostics, clinical protocols, and surge capacity during future outbreaks.
The Playbook integrates lessons from COVID-19 with emerging scientific tools, including rapid diagnostics, genomic surveillance, and antiviral therapies, to help healthcare systems respond more effectively to new viral threats.
“Preparedness in a hospital setting ultimately comes down to execution,” said Asa Oxner, MD, vice president and associate chief medical officer for Ambulatory Services, Tampa General Hospital, and associate professor of internal medicine at the USF Morsani College of Medicine. “Through our work with GVN on the Hospital Pandemic Playbook, we are building practical frameworks that enable hospitals to translate evolving science into coordinated clinical action during a crisis.”
GVN also announced Tampa General Hospital as the inaugural Hospital Virology Center of Excellence, recognizing the institution’s leadership in integrating clinical care, research, and preparedness for emerging viral threats.
The designation was established by the GVN to set a standard for hospitals that demonstrate excellence in translating virological science into clinical practice, integrating research, diagnostics, and patient care to strengthen preparedness and response to emerging viral threats.
Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine, noted that partnerships between academic medicine, global research networks, and health systems are essential to strengthening pandemic preparedness. “Scientific discovery must move seamlessly from the laboratory to the bedside,” Lockwood said. “Collaborations like those between USF Health, Tampa General Hospital, and the Global Virus Network are critical to ensuring that breakthroughs in virology translate into real-world impact.”
Lessons from COVID-19: Bridging Science, Policy, and Public Trust
Discussions titled “Pandemics: Lessons Still Not Learned,” moderated by Andrew Jack of the Financial Times, who also serves as a member of the GVN board of directors, focused on how scientific knowledge can be better translated into policy and preparedness before the next global health crisis.
Speakers reflected on the scientific, political, and societal challenges exposed during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brett Giroir, MD emphasized that the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines was made possible by decades of prior investment in basic scientific research. Giroir, who previously served as executive chairman of the GVN board of directors, highlighted the importance of strengthening connections between scientific expertise and policy leadership.
“During my time in the White House, it became clear how critical it is to have direct, real-time access to leading virologists around the world,” Giroir said. “The Global Virus Network provides a unique platform to connect that expertise across borders and ensure policymakers are guided by the best available science when decisions must be made quickly. We know what works in pandemic response, but the challenge is ensuring those lessons are implemented before the next crisis forces us to relearn them.”
Sharon Lewin, MD, a member of the GVN board of directors and director of the Doherty Institute in Australia, stressed that pandemic preparedness must be built during the inter-pandemic period, when countries can strengthen surveillance systems, data sharing, and scientific capacity.
“The work of preparedness must happen between pandemics,” Lewin said. “That is when we have the opportunity to build the systems and partnerships needed to respond effectively when the next threat emerges.”
Speakers also addressed a growing challenge: declining public trust in health institutions.
Heidi Larson, PhD, one of the world’s leading experts on vaccine confidence and public trust and a member of the GVN board of directors, is the founding director of the Vaccine Confidence Project at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. She presented findings from one of the largest global studies of its kind, involving more than 72,000 participants across 70 countries examining public attitudes toward pandemic response and vaccination.
The research found that public trust in government pandemic response often did not correlate with epidemiological outcomes, indicating that perceptions of fairness, transparency, and inclusion in decision-making may shape trust more strongly than case numbers or mortality rates alone.
“Pandemic preparedness is not only about science and technology,” Larson said. “It is also about trust. Without public confidence in institutions and the information they provide, even the best scientific tools cannot achieve their full impact.”
Lessons from Emerging Outbreaks
Recent outbreaks, including the Mpox public health emergency in Africa, further illustrate how expanded laboratory capacity and community health worker networks helped strengthen surveillance and response.
“Emerging viruses do not remain confined to one region,” said Quarraisha Abdool Karim, PhD, associate scientific director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa and a member of the GVN board of directors. “Events like the Mpox epidemic remind us that outbreaks anywhere can quickly become global threats. Strengthening surveillance and scientific collaboration across regions is essential.”
Speakers also pointed to the resurgence of measles in several regions as a warning that even well-known viruses can re-emerge when vaccination coverage declines.
“Measles is biologically one of the simplest infectious diseases to prevent because we have a safe and highly effective vaccine,” said William Moss, MD, professor at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and a leader at the GVN Center of Excellence. “But because the virus is so extraordinarily contagious, even small gaps in vaccination coverage can quickly lead to outbreaks.”
Looking Ahead
“The stakes for global virology communication and collaboration have never been higher,” said Mathew Evins, chief executive officer of the GVN. “By connecting leading virologists and research centers worldwide, GVN ensures that scientific knowledge moves faster than viruses and that expertise can be mobilized quickly when new outbreaks emerge.”
Speakers emphasized that while the world now has powerful tools, from genomic surveillance and artificial intelligence to next-generation antivirals and immunological strategies, sustained investment, global coordination, and workforce development will determine whether that progress translates into meaningful preparedness.
“Pandemic preparedness ultimately depends on people,” said Sten Vermund, MD, PhD, chief medical officer of the GVN and dean of the USF College of Public Health. “Strengthening the global virology workforce and supporting the next generation of scientists will be just as important as the scientific tools we develop.”
“We should not think of the period between pandemics as a time of rest,” said Christian Bréchot, MD, PhD, vice chair of the GVN board of directors and director of the USF Microbiomes Institute. “We are in a permanent training period, and the scientific work done today will determine how prepared the world is for the next pandemic.”
The next Global Virus Network Annual International Scientific Meeting will be held in Singapore, April 14-16, 2027.
The full agenda for the GVN 2026 Annual International Scientific Meeting is available here, and select presentations from the meeting are available here.
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About the Global Virus Network
The Global Virus Network (GVN) is a worldwide coalition comprising 90+ Virology Centers of Excellence and Affiliates across 40+ countries, whose mission is to facilitate pandemic preparedness against viral pathogens and diseases that threaten public health globally. GVN advances knowledge of viruses through (i) data-driven research and solutions, (ii) fostering the next generation of virology leaders, and (iii) enhancing global resources for readiness and response to emerging viral threats. GVN provides the essential expertise required to discover and diagnose viruses that threaten public health, understand how such viruses spread illnesses, and facilitate the development of diagnostics, therapies, and treatments to combat them. GVN coordinates and collaborates with local, national, and international scientific institutions and government agencies to provide real-time virus informatics, surveillance, and response resources and strategies. GVN's pandemic preparedness mission is achieved by focusing on Education & Training, Qualitative & Quantitative Research, and Global Health Strategies & Solutions. The GVN is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. For more information, please visit www.gvn.org.
