Preventing Human Extinction as a Public Health Priority

In Overview:

This is a recording of a live webinar held on April 20, 2022

Dr. Luby discussed how multiple threats including armed conflict involving nuclear weapons, genetically engineered pathogens, environmental catastrophes, and artificial superintelligence, could lead to human extinction by the end of the century. The global public health community should take these threats seriously and work to prevent them. Dr. Luby will discuss these threats in detail along with countermeasures to reduce their likelihood.

For the last 30 years Dr. Stephen Luby’s research efforts have engaged a broad array of health issues in low-income countries. Dr. Luby currently serves as the Director for Research of Stanford University’s Center for Innovation in Global Health. He is also appointed as a Professor of Medicine of Infectious Diseases and a Senior Fellow to Stanford’s Woods Institute for the Environment and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies. Earlier in his career he lived in Pakistan for 5 years and Bangladesh for 8 years. Dr. Luby is a prolific researcher who by working closely with local collaborators has conducted extensive work assessing pandemic risks and strategies to reduce these risks. He teaches a popular course to Stanford freshman entitled “Preventing Human Extinction.”

Learning Objectives