Contagion Science explores foundational forces that expose transdisciplinary vulnerabilities of our modern societies and aims to provide a toolkit for response.

The global Covid-19 outbreak put pandemics and pandemic management in the spotlight. Understanding the various factors that influenced its emergence, its evolution, as well as our public health responses offers a multitude of transdisciplinary learning opportunities.

Contagion Science provides an umbrella for fundamental research challenges and acknowledges that mechanisms and patterns of contagion are not limited to pandemics but occur in many areas of our modern societies.

Fueled by a UVA grant of $5 million in support of the University’s quest to move its research from prominence to preeminence, the Contagion Science program provides a coordinated “big science” approach to exploring ways to address contagions of the magnitude we experienced with the global pandemic of the 21st century. Scientists at UVA acknowledge the need to develop cross-cutting technological computing innovations that interface with real-world societal applications to improve planning and response to contagions of this scale and impact. We are eager to find solutions in advance, not if, but when it happens.