Beyond personal connection and interaction, there is at the moment a universal craving for reliable information... a tremendous demand, in particular, for coronavirus facts. The Coudert Institute is pleased to answer this call thanks to the generosity of William A. Haseltine, Ph.D, a renowned biologist who has devoted his professional career and life to improving human health at every scale. Dr. Haseltine has educated a generation of doctors at Harvard Medical School, designed the strategy to develop the first treatment for HIV/AIDS, and led the team that pioneered the development of new drugs based on information from the human genome. A longtime friend of Coudert Institute Founder Dale Coudert, Dr. Haseltine has been in continuous communication this week to extend a wide range of up to the minute, fact-based content. We are beyond grateful for his gift of wisdom and information, and are happy to dispense some of that with our members through this communication. Please feel free to share this content within your social and professional circles as you see fit. It begins with some positive news!
Monoclonal Antibodies Could Help Fight Against Coronavirus This short article, authored by Dr. William Haseltine, offers us some of the BEST NEWS since the isolation the virus! In the article, published this week in Forbes Magazine, he reports that, "Monoclonal antibodies are very likely too be effective for treatment and prevention (especially for healthcare workers) of COVID-19. The development time should be short, and with the right resources, these should be available within a few months." Read Monoclonal Antibodies Could Help Fight Against Coronavirus here.
What Did We Know and When Did We Know It?
Open source information is information that can be publicly gathered through newspapers, television, and radio and ever so much more from our increasing wired world. After engaing in extensive dialogue with people whose life work is to develop the tools that allow us to understand what is happening in the world through such intelligence, Dr. WIlliam Haseltine came to the conclusion that we can predict impending epidemics, and do so early on. "We could have, and very likely did, observe the earliest traces of COVID-19 to accurately predict the gathering storm." He shares this and a wealth of other fascinating findings in his article, What Did We Know And When Did We Know It? Disease Surveillance: Past, Present And Future, published this week in Forbes Magazine. Read Dr. Haseltine's full article in Forbes Magazine through this link... COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines in Real Time The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. Earlier this week, in their ongoing efforts to navigate the rapidly evolving COVID-19 situation, the NIH announced the development of a "living document" offering treatment guidelines in real time. The guidelines have been developed (and will be updated) by a panel of U.S. physicians, statisticians, and other experts Intended for healthcare providers, the guidelines are based on published and preliminary data and the clinical expertise of the panelists, many of whom are frontline clinicians caring for patients during the rapidly evolving pandemic. Access the guidelines, and keep current on all of the latest facts relating to COVID-19 through this link... This is How You Can Return to Work Safely Next month, there is a real risk that Americans will be asked to return to work before our public health infrastructure is in place to keep them safe. Workers desperate for a paycheck, have little recourse but to agree. So what can each of us do to protect ourselves in this scenario and help keep those around us safe? Here are some thoughts on how we can do so from Dr. William Haseltine. This is How You Can Return to Work Safely was published this week in Forbes Magazine. Read the full article here... The Pandemic’s Hidden Victims: Sick or Dying, but Not From the Virus As the coronavirus overwhelms the health care system, people with other illnesses struggle to find treatment. Denise Grady's New York Times article (published this week), The Pandemic’s Hidden Victims: Sick or Dying, but Not From the Virus, explores this reality through the voices of many families whose treatments have been delayed due to coronavirus. Read The Pandemic’s Hidden Victims: Sick or Dying, but Not From the Virus here... In Some Hospitals, Surviving COVID Is Almost Twice As Likely "I am not surprised that the hospitals that have made a significant effort in developing systems to improve patient outcomes and reduce in-hospital deaths also do better with critically ill COVID-19 patients," observed Dr. William Haseltine in a recent post on Forbes Magazine. Some Hospitals, Surviving COVID Is Almost Twice As Likely emphasizes his point that it is time for all our hospitals to learn from the best. Read the full post on Forbes Magazine here... Bill Gates on, The Scientific Advances We Need to STOP COVID 19 Bill Gates is a technologist, business leader, and philanthropist. In 2010, Bill and his wife Melinda challenged the global health community to declare this the Decade of Vaccines, pledging $10 billion over the next 10 years to help research, develop, and deliver vaccines for the world’s poorest countries. As we try to make sense of what is happening right now Gates' wisdom has never been more respected and called upon.
"This is like a world war, except in this case, we’re all on the same side," charges Gates in an essay entitled, The Scientific Advances We Need to STOP COVID 19, published this week on his GATESNOTES blog. He continues to stress the importance of working together adding, " I see global innovation as the key to limiting the damage. This includes innovations in testing, treatments, vaccines, and policies to limit the spread while minimizing the damage to economies and well-being." Read more of Gates' essay on the current situation and how we can "accelerate innovations" through this link... How Many Tests Do We Really Need? In this short read, another essay by Dr. William Haseltine, published this week in Forbes Magazine, this million dollar question receives a thoughtful probe. Emphasizing that testing is not a "one off exercise", Haseltine suggests, "Each person should be tested a minimum of three times over a fifteen day period to account for low and undetectable virus in early stages of infection." He also offers Harvard University's Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience as a reference for further exploration of this question on test quantity. Read Dr. Haseltine's full article How Many Tests Do We Really Need through this link. And, consult Harvard University's Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience here...
Dr. William Haseltine is also the author of several books, including Aging Well. You can learn more about his professional background and groundbreaking achievements thought his website, by clicking here. It is our hope and intention that when we reconvene and can all safely move about once more, Dr. Hasletine will be part of our Coudert Institute programming.
Illustration courtesy of the National Institutes of Health by, NIAID-RML