Fred Hutch's president says a new strain of virus research center is needed to fight future outbreak
Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center already has dozens of scientists working on infectious diseases, including COVID-19 — but the center’s president and director, Thomas Lynch, says the research community is going to have to kick things up a notch to head off future pandemics.
His prescription? Create institutions like Fred Hutch that are devoted to virology.
“I feel strongly about this,” Lynch, a veteran medical doctor and researcher who took on the Hutch’s top post less than four months ago, said today during an online conversation presented via Zoom for GeekWire members. “I think virology needs a ‘cancer centers’ program, OK?”
Lynch pointed out that the National Cancer Institute has designated dozens of comprehensive cancer centers, including Fred Hutch, to conduct research into all aspects of the disease, from its molecular and genetic roots to its behavioral effects.
“We need the same thing in virology,” he told GeekWire co-founder Todd Bishop. “Because guess what’s going to happen? In two years, we’re going to be over COVID. We’re going to be through COVID. But there’s going to be another coronavirus. Five years later, there’s going to be another Ebola virus. There’ll be more retroviruses. The viruses will be with us as long as humanity is around, and we need the ability to rapidly respond.”
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