/pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/ en /pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/article/ebola-update-aug-7-q-and-joanne-liu%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E Dr. Joanne Liu is a Canadian pediatric emergency physician and the Director of the Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab (PERL). She was at the helm of Médecins Sans Frontières as the International President from 2013 to 2019, during which the organization played a key role in the response to the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola Outbreak. With the 2026 Bundibugyo Ebola Outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo now outpacing the 2018-2020 North Kivu outbreak, we asked Dr. Liu to walk us through where things stand: why containment has been harder, the challenges being faced on the ground, and her Sun, 09 Aug 2026 09:33:05 -0400 Hannah Hagos 646 /pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/article/prativa-baral-awarded-cihrs-steps-team-grant%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E Prativa Baral, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Public Health, has received $750K in total funding over three years from Canada Institutes of Health Research’s (CIHR) Strengthening Resilient & Equitable Public Health Systems (STEPS) Team Grant program. The award supports the project, “Designing a Pan-Canadian Civilian Emergency Reserve: governance, finance, and workforce models to strengthen public health surge capacity”. An epidemiologist and global health researcher, with expertise spanning infectious diseases, health data infrastructure, and misinformation in crisis Wed, 17 Jun 2026 10:00:00 -0400 Giuliana Grabina 649 /pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/articles/ituri-ebola-mauvais-deja-vu%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E In 2014, I was the international president of Doctors Without Borders when Ebola began to multiply silently in the forests of Guinea. In a few weeks, the virus had crossed the borders to Sierra Leone and Liberia: 28,600 people infected, 11,325 deaths - the most devastating Ebola epidemic ever observed. Tuesday morning, looking at the data coming from the province of Ituri in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), I had a feeling that I don't like. That of déjà vu. A bad déjà vu. What we know As of May 19, there are more than 500 suspected cases, nearly 150 deaths, two confirmed cases in Wed, 20 May 2026 10:00:00 -0400 Joanne Liu 648 /pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/%3Ca%20href%3D%22https%3A//www.mcgill.ca/pandemic-emergency-readiness-lab/article/hantavirus-cruse-ship-one-health%22%20hreflang%3D%22en%22%3Eview%3C/a%3E In February 2025, the classical pianist Betsy Arakawa died in her New Mexico home from a virus most people had never heard of. Her husband, the actor Gene Hackman, died a week later of heart disease. The pathogen that killed her was hantavirus, almost certainly picked up from deer mouse droppings on the property. Fourteen months later, 11 people on the Dutch cruise ship Hondius have been infected with a different hantavirus strain. Three have died, and passengers from more than 20 countries, including several Canadians, are being monitored across four continents. This is not the next pandemic Thu, 14 May 2026 16:29:00 -0400 Joanne Liu, Prativa Baral, Veasna Duong 647