During this interview by the Women in Global Health (WGH) Norway COVID 50/50 Taskforce, Gunnveig Grødeland reflects on her time as a researcher and how this has changed with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. She discusses the importance of pandemic preparedness and key lessons Norway should take away in respect to response and strategies for future pandemics, which is inevitable. In addition, Grødeland mentions the Women in Global Health Five Asks for Gender-Responsive Global Health Security and why ASK 4 - Adopt a gender-sensitive approach to health security data collection/analysis and response management, is important to her as a female scientist. Find out why here!
About
Dr. Gunnveig Grødeland obtained her Ph.D. in immunology and vaccinology in 2013 from the University of Oslo in Norway. She has since worked at the University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, interrupted by a Fulbright Scholarship to The Scripps Research Institute in San Diego. Grødeland is presently leading her research group on Influenza and Adaptive Immunity, but where the focus has been shifted somewhat to SARS-CoV-2 in the past year. Her research interests has focused on development of novel vaccine formats against infectious diseases, and she is presently preparing a lead vaccine candidate against pandemic influenza for clinical testing.
The WGH Norway COVID 50/50 Taskforce serves as a national hub for COVID-19 and gender equity actions and activities. This ad-hoc taskforce is in support of the WGH Global's #COVID5050 Campaign, which introduced the Five Asks for Gender-Responsive Global Health Security in 2020 to help confront power and privilege. Both of which undermine global health by preventing women from contributing equally to the fight against challenges like COVID-19.