CCC has a long history of engaging in topics at the intersection of health and computing, from the Computing and Healthcare workshop in 2012, to the Aging in Place workshop in 2014, to the Sociotechnical Interventions for Health Disparity Reduction workshop in 2018. The outcomes of these workshops revealed how computing research has the ability to make the lives of healthcare personnel (HCP) and the broader public easier, safer, and more effective.

While society is optimistic that computing tools can be great aids to HCP during times of crisis, they largely fell short in being effective during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2023, CCC held a timely workshop on the subject of the Future of Pandemic Prevention and Response to reflect on the gaps and opportunities revealed during the pandemic. The attendees consisted of approximately half computing professionals, and half HCP and Public Health experts, with many participants at the intersection of the two disciplines.

The workshop was full of robust and interesting discussions, and participants agreed that many of the needs in the healthcare system that were exposed during the recent pandemic are still relevant today, from staffing shortages to data standardization. Therefore, a major finding of the report is that most of the research and advances that would help in the next pandemic would also be beneficial today during “peacetime.” 

Keep an eye out for the upcoming Future of Pandemic Prevention and Response workshop report that will be released next week!