How the Greater Boston Biomedical Community is Tackling the Coronavirus

The number of novel coronavirus cases is growing rapidly. The infectious pathogen SARS-CoV-2 — and Covid-19, the often-serious disease it can cause — has already spread to more than 80 countries. We are on the cusp of a global pandemic, and Boston has the unique biomedical environment to forge this crisis into solutions that benefit our community and the world.

For physician-scientists, medical researchers, front-line clinicians, and epidemiologists in the Greater Boston area, this is not merely a call to duty. This is a historic opportunity to reimagine and revise the way we tackle future outbreaks. No single institution is going to solve this problem. Boston and Cambridge are home to exceptional biomedical research institutions and medical centers. Yet the individual players that make up this ecosystem are at times siloed. We need a more nimble, better synchronized rapid-response system to mobilize diverse expertise to address the current crisis as well as future infectious disease pandemics. And, if past is prologue, come they will.

On Monday, we agreed it’s time for a change. At a historic meeting held at Harvard Medical School — the first step on a long journey — more than 80 clinicians and scientists representing Harvard, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories at Boston University, affiliated academic medical centers, local biotech, pharma, and research institutes, foundations, and the state Department of Public Health came together to commit to an integrated, collaborative response, harnessing the power and collective medical and scientific acumen of this community. Together, those in attendance set in motion a plan to break down institutional barriers and form a consortium to develop diagnostic tools, treatments, and vaccines with utmost urgency for this new coronavirus epidemic. And to welcome others in our community to join this effort.