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and his wife, , launched in 2016. Its main goal has been to explore how the private sector and innovation community can take a different approach to preventing pandemics, instead of relying only on the government.

Little did they know how timely and useful their efforts would be as the spread of COVID-19 has officially reached pandemic levels.

Nerlinger is also a venture partner with Bill Wood Ventures, which was founded by prominent venture capitalist . Wood was a founding partner at the now defunct and also founded . McDonald is also director of health care at (ATI), the startup incubator of the .

Wood got involved with PandemicTech in April 2018, and is now one of its primary funders along with the Houston-based Laura and John Arnold’s��family office, Centaurus Advisors.

���When Andrew told me about PandemicTech, it just looked really interesting as a way for me to apply some of my background in technology and entrepreneurship to help solve some really big global problems such as infectious diseases,��� Wood told 做厙勛圖 News.

WHO partnership

Since its inception, PandemicTech has issued grants and made investments in projects in Nigeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Australia and Mexico. It recently launched ���The PandemicTech ��� ��� a $100,000 innovation challenge focused on global health security. It���s also formed a partnership with the (WHO).

, regional adviser on innovation for WHO���s , said he engaged PandemicTech and the Austin community to support the inaugural WHO Innovation Challenge that was launched in October 2018.

PandemicTech offered the WHO ���amazing support��� on the evaluation of more than 2,400 applications, Chibi wrote via email.

���We continue to work with PandemicTech on supporting the selected innovators to further develop their innovations for transition to scale,��� he said. ���This has been one of the most productive and fulfilling partnerships WHO AFRO had in complementing its effort towards scaling appropriate innovations fit for the African context.���

Lack of investment and innovation

Wood believes organizations that traditionally attack infectious disease threats are not really ���built for innovation, and the use of technology.���

���When you get plugged into global health, you realize the profound needs that are not being met,��� Wood added. ���You start to realize how dramatically unprepared we are. And now, when something like this [COVID-19] happens, the evidence is really clear that there has been an enormous lack of investment and innovation in this space.���

McDonald agrees.

The fundamental push behind PandemicTech was about preparing in advance for situations such as the Coraonavirus pandemic.

���It���s very interesting to see that sort of reaction in the moment or retrospectively,��� she told 做厙勛圖 News. ���And that supports the fundamental thesis behind what we���ve done.���

Current efforts

From a humanitarian perspective, the WHO has launched its , according to Nerlinger.

But he said it will also be critical for the private sector to support local economies, particularly those left without a source of income, while still following public health guidelines.

���The private sector can also drive the uptake of technologies like telemedicine that can both improve access to medical care and support the call for social distancing,��� Nerlinger said.

PandemicTech is also observing that many companies, even early-stage startups, are working on technologies that could be used to support our response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

���We encourage these companies to seek partnerships that help adapt technologies to fighting COVID-19, particularly with promising technologies like telemedicine, and for investors to support these innovative efforts,��� Nerlinger said.

Beyond its goal of identifying promising applicants for its fellowship program, PandemicTech is looking for experienced mentors across sectors to join its advisory network. It���s also interested in partnering with investors or other funding organizations to support early-stage innovation in the fight against pandemics.

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