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The COVID-19 Scientific Interest Group (SIG) lecture series was initiated in 2020 to facilitate communication of the ongoing scientific research to understand SARS-CoV-2 and treat COVID-19. Invited speakers share the latest research on a broad range of topics, including clinical findings, therapeutics, basic biology, epidemiology, and public health research. This lecture series runs from September through June, and occurs biweekly on Thursdays at noon. Dr. Al-Aly is the Director of the Clinical Epidemiology Center, and the Chief of Research and Education Service at Veterans Affairs St. Louis Health Care System. Dr. Al-Aly developed significant expertise leveraging the power of big data and advances in statistical methodologies to fill important knowledge gaps that may not be easily answered by other means of scientific inquiry. For example, he led the work which described a link between air pollution and kidney disease and ­– separately – described the global and national burden of diabetes attributable to air pollution. Evidence generated from these studies is widely cited and is contributing to the national and global discussion on the effect of environmental pollution on burden of non-communicable diseases. Led by Al-Aly, the work uncovered several long term adverse events associated with use of proton pump inhibitors (one of the most commonly prescribed medications in the U.S. and globally). In particular, work which described risks of kidney disease, and of death associated with use of proton pump inhibitors. The body of work surrounding proton pump inhibitors has generated widespread discussion among medical professionals, regulatory agencies, patients, and the public at large; and has motivated the development of deprescription programs to reduce overuse of these medications. LECTURE SUMMARY: Long Covid represents the constellation of long-term health effects of COVID-19. Long Covid can affect nearly every organ system and impact people across the lifespan and across demographic and racial groups. Long Covid affects at least 400 million people worldwide with an estimated economic cost of $1 trillion per year. The talk will provide an overview of Long Covid and its impacts; we will also discuss a forward looking policy and research roadmap.

For more information go to https://www.niaid.nih.gov/research/covid-19-sig-lecture-series