Responding to COVID-19
More COVID-19 Information:
> GUMC Stories & Releases
> Our Experts in the News
> Published Commentaries
> Subject Matter Experts
> Other Georgetown Work
> MedStar COVID-19 Research
With the rapid onset of the novel coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19), Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) has moved swiftly to respond to many new challenges.
More than 15 research teams have expanded their portfolios to accelerate COVID-19 research, building on established scientific principles. Global health experts and epidemiologists are furnishing policy makers both in the U.S. and around the world with analysis and tools to make informed, evidence-based decisions. Students and alumni are mobilizing and finding new ways to support their communities — and health systems — in their hour of need.
Collectively, GUMC’s contributions will help to ensure that our community, country, and world are better equipped to manage the current crisis, as well as strengthening preparedness for the future.
Featured Content
Health Justice Alliance Responds to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has deepened the gulf of health disparities and social injustice in Washington, DC. For Georgetown’s Health Justice Alliance, a collaboration between Georgetown Law and the university’s medical center students and faculty, the havoc created by the crisis makes their work all the more important.
Automated COVID-19 Research Tracking Tool Wins International Data Challenge
A new online tool that gathers and organizes COVID-19 research and trending conversations about virus-related research was recognized as the winning professional entry to the COVID-19 Data Challenge from the Pandemic Data Room. The Data Challenge was led by QED Group in partnership with Georgetown University, Medstar Health, Amazon, Tableau, The Reis Group, IDS, Clear Outcomes, Geopoll, Exovera and others.
NHS Alumnae Help With MGUH COVID-19 Response
Catherine Zolbrod Freeman (NHS’17) and Moira Redmond (NHS’17), who usually practice as registered nurses with pediatric patients, have been working together to care for adult patients with COVID-19 at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Addressing an Urgent Need
GUMC launched multiple COVID-19-related research projects, including ways to track, slow and stop the outbreak, as well as generate ideas for potential therapies or vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the disease.
COVID-19: A Global Pandemic Demands a Global Response
SARS-CoV-2, a novel coronavirus that jumped from bats to humans, has caused the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst global health crisis in a century. That crisis, in turn, is wreaking economic havoc that could dwarf the Great Depression. Top global health experts lay out a global response to the pandemic in a white paper released on April 23, 2020.
Georgetown Center Assists With Africa’s COVID-19 Response
The GU Center for Global Health Practice and Impact’s Nigeria team has set up a COVID-19 microsite to provide rapid disease tracking across the country.
Leveraging Our Strengths
While the COVID-19 pandemic presents the medical and scientific community with unprecedented challenges, the unique nature of the virus provides for wide-ranging areas of scientific and public health exploration. From the lab to the clinic to the policy space, GUMC is building on its existing expertise to address some of the most pressing questions surrounding this pandemic.
Research Projects
The unique nature of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), which causes COVID-19, provides for wide-ranging and potentially impactful areas of scientific exploration and understanding. The medical center is supporting 15 teams of investigators conducting research that covers a remarkable breadth and depth of critically important problems related to COVID-19.
Global Health Centers
Center for Global Health Science and Security: Developed in response to calls from local governments for more information on how to protect their communities, the GHSS, in partnership with NTI and the Center for Global Development, developed the COVID-19 Frontline Guide, an online tool featuring eight indicators of progress for self-assessment and seven key actions that each include checklists of decision points.
Center for Global Health Practice and Impact: The CGHPI team is currently working in several countries to tap into and support local communities of practice around public health issues including COVID-19 — leveraging the connections and innovation at the local level and linking local health service delivery with national policymaking.
Clinical Trials Involving COVID-19
Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, in collaboration with MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, has begun a study to test for specific virus antibodies in people with cancer, who are vulnerable to COVID-19, as well as employees of the hospital or GUMC employees working in a hospital setting. In the coming weeks, Georgetown will offer additional clinical trials related to COVID-19 and its manifestations.