Contact:
Larry Kerr, PhD
Director, Pandemics and Emerging Threats Office
Office of Global Affairs
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Phone: (202) 205-8731
Email: globalhealth@hhs.gov
About the Pandemic Team
The Pandemics and Emerging Threats (PET) Office engages with other U.S. government agencies, foreign governments, and multilateral organizations to set policy and support initiatives to prevent, detect, and respond to health threats whether natural, accidental, or deliberate in origin. PET's role is to provide leadership, and coordination of international activities through policy analysis, development and coordination, program coordination, policy implementation, and strategic planning. PET’s portfolio includes many key USG policy issues and initiatives: pandemic influenza, Global Health Security Agenda, antimicrobial resistance, one health, emerging pandemic threats (e.g. Ebola, Yellow Fever, and Zika), preparedness and response, countering biological threats, biosafety and biosecurity, and other challenges. PET also plays a central role in shaping global response coordination and policy when an outbreak occurs, most recently working with partners from the international community to combat Ebola in West Africa and Zika across the Americas. PET’s work serves as a critical interface leading and coordinating with a myriad of partners and supporting the HHS Secretary on all global engagements related to health security and outbreak response.
For more information on PET’s issue areas, visit the OGA Global Health Security page.
Learn about the Joint Ministerial Communiqué on the Occasion of the Meeting of the Regional Ministers of Health on Ebola Preparedness and Response released on September 25, 2019.
