‘Chasing COVID’ film looks at Center for Vaccine Research’s work

The short film “Chasing COVID,” which looks at the work being done by Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research to protect us from emerging variants of the virus, will have its world premiere online at 7 p.m. April 12.

The film is part of The Pittsburgh Lens series and is presented by the Center for Creativity and the University Library System.

Provost Ann Cudd and Anantha Shekhar, senior vice chancellor for Health Sciences, will give opening remarks.  Peter Salk, professor of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology at the Graduate School of Public Health and son of Jonas Salk, will join as a special guest to commemorate the 66th anniversary of the Salk polio vaccine being declared “safe and effective.”

After the film’s premiere, a panel, moderated by Kornelia Tancheva, director of the University Library System, will discuss how vaccines go from the lab to the public; questions about vaccine hesitancy, equity, and distribution; and why it is so critical to help good information about vaccines “go viral.” The panel includes:

  • Paul Duprex, director, Center for Vaccine Research and Jonas Salk Chair for Vaccine Research

  • Anita McElroy, assistant professor of Pediatrics

  • Sylvia Owusu-Ansah, associate vice chair of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion and assistant professor of Pediatrics and Emergency Medicine; EMS Medical Director, UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh

  • Carl Kurlander, founding producer of The Pittsburgh Lens, and senior lecturer, Film & Media Studies

Registration is required. This event has limited capacity. Registration does not guarantee attendance. However, all registrants will receive a link to the recording of the program afterwards.