Abstract: Pandemics begin after a pathogen that has the capacity for sustained human-to-human transmission spills over from a non-human animal into people. Spillover is the outcome of a cascade of ecological, epidemiological, biological, and sociological processes. Climate change has the potential to exacerbate and align each of these processes in ways that increase the risk of spillover. I will outline the key factors linking climate change and zoonotic spillover and will invite discussion on how these insights could inform upstream pandemic prevention.

Bio: Raina Plowright is the Rudolf J. and Katharine L. Steffen Professor at Cornell University and a Cornell Atkinson Scholar at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. A veterinarian with an M.S. in epidemiology and a Ph.D. in ecology from UC Davis, her research focuses on understanding the mechanisms of zoonotic spillover to inform strategies for pandemic prevention. Plowright leads transdisciplinary collaborations on emerging infectious diseases, particularly WHO-priority pathogens originating in bats. Her work spans sub-cellular to landscape-scales, revealing how land-use change and climate variation drive pathogen emergence—and identifying practical strategies for prevention. She co-chairs the Lancet Commission on Prevention of Viral Spillover and serves on advisory boards, including the NSF Advisory Committee for Environmental Research and Education. Plowright is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (2023) and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (2022).

This event is presented as part of the 2026 Perspectives on the Climate Change Challenge Seminar Series:

• Most Mondays, Spring Semester 2026, 2:55-4:10 p.m.
• 155 Olin Hall & Zoom

This university-wide seminar series is open to the public (via Zoom), and provides important views on the critical issue of climate change, drawing from many perspectives and disciplines. Experts from Cornell University and beyond present an overview of the science of climate change and climate change models, the implications for agriculture, ecosystems, and food systems, and provide important economic, ethical, and policy insights on the issue. The seminar is being organized and sponsored by the Department of Biological and Environmental Engineering and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability.