Diary Prequel Package — page 392

EVENT MEMO THE WHITE HOUSE Washington October 23, 2014 PRESIDENT'S COUNCIL OF ADVISORS ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY MEETING DATE: October 23, 2014 LOCATION: Roosevelt Room TIME: 1:45-2:45 FROM: John P. Holdren PURPOSE At your request, YOU will be meeting with a special session of your Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) to tap the group's expertise and ideas about science, technology, and innovation for addressing the Ebola challenge in both its West African and U.S. domestic components. The possibilities range from approaches for accelerating the development, testing, production, and distribution of effective vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics, to uses of systems thinking to improve practices on the ground in ways that reduce numbers of new infections, to applications of information technology for connecting researchers and practitioners and educating the public. PCAST has been preparing intensively for this meeting. Many of the members have convened brainstorming sessions drawing on their own organizations and networks; e-mail circulation of ideas and group conference calls are ongoing; and the PCAST Executive Office in OSTP is compiling the results for use in the group's final prep, starting at 9 am Thursday. (Of course, as well as presenting its own ideas, the group will want to hear YOUR thoughts about how PCAST can be most helpful going forward.) As further background for the meeting, my OSTP colleagues and I have prepared a Briefing Memo for YOU that surveys the landscape of existing Administration activities and plans on science, technology, and innovation for the Ebola challenge. It is appended here. PARTICIPANTS PCAST Members e Co-Chair John Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy e Co-Chair Eric Lander, Director of the MIT-Harvard Broad Institute and Professor of Biology at MIT