COVID-19: A scientific perspective - looking to the future

Brought to you by the ICAEW Financial Services Faculty, this webinar provides a conversation with Professor Peter Piot of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Special Advisor on COVID-19 Research & Innovation

What many scientists had long predicted and feared is now a reality: today the world is in crisis because of a pandemic, COVID-19, and is collectively struggling to bring the new virus under control.
In this webinar, Professor Peter Piot and Hitesh Patel will take stock of where we are with the pandemic and discuss what the future might hold. Is living with COVID-19 the new normal? Are we better prepared for future waves?

The webinar will explore the current scientific thinking around the pandemic, the process of vaccine development, its distribution and the lasting change of the crisis. It will also look into the future and explore where we are likely to be in 6, 12, 24 months’ time. The speakers will discuss the trade-off between limiting the spread and ensuring economic activity and how this affects businesses.

Listeners will have a chance to ask questions of the UK’s top scientist and understand the work of LSHTM and:

• Hear an update on scientific developments
• Understand the future pathways
• Hear the discussion of economic/business implications

About the speakers

Professor Baron Peter Piot KCMG, Director, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Handa Professor of Global Health

Professor Piot is the Director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Handa Professor of Global Health. He was the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1995 until 2008. He co-discovered the Ebola virus in 1976, and conducted pioneering research on HIV/AIDS, particularly in Africa. He was knighted as KCMG in the U.K., as a Baron in his native Belgium, and was named a 2014 TIME Person of the Year (The Ebola Fighters). Professor Piot is Special Advisor on COVID-19 Research & Innovation to the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. He has published over 600 scientific articles and 16 books, including his memoir, No Time to Lose, translated into 5 languages.

Hitesh Patel, Non-Executive Director

Hitesh is a qualified Chartered Accountant and currently a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of Enstar Group, Capital Home Loans Limited and the Council of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. He also Chairs the Insurance Committee at the ICAEW. Hitesh was previously Chief Executive Officer of Lucida plc, a life insurance company writing bulk annuity business. Prior to joining Lucida Hitesh was a senior insurance partner in KPMG London and was responsible for providing audit, accounting and regulatory advisory services. He was also previously a Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committees of Aviva Life Holdings and Aviva Insurance Limited.

First broadcast on 11 February, 2021.