NDSU public health seminar scheduled

NDSU’s Department of Public Health is hosting a seminar featuring Lance Presser, a virologist who has extensive experience in high-containment laboratories, including the CDC’s Viral Special Pathogens Branch. The presentation will take place on Thursday, Sept. 25 from 2-3 p.m. in the Memorial Union’s Hidatsa room.

Presser’s presentation will cover the key lessons from laboratory collaborations during responses to SARS-CoV-2, mpox and emerging infections like Oropouche virus, as well as the broader efforts in capacity building across the World Health Organiation Euro region.

Presser earned his doctorate in microbiology and immunology from Rosalind Franklin University, where he studied Hepatitis C virus interactions and liver disease pathways. He was deployed for the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak as the U.S. CDC diagnostic laboratory team lead for three teams. After the Ebola outbreak was over, Lance stayed in Africa and built laboratory capacity and systems in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea, Nigeria, and Uganda.

Since 2020, Presser has worked at the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in the Netherlands, contributing to numerous virology publications, coordinating European Union–funded programs and supporting the WHO collaborating center for high-threat pathogen preparedness and response.

Hosted as part of the department’s seminar series, the event is free and open to the public.

For details on parking, visit Memorial Union’s website. For those who can’t make the event in person, register online to receive a Zoom link.