In less than a year, APPA and the APPA Foundation have collectively achieved the following:

• Initiated a citizen science research collaboration with a University of Missouri lab to collect and test pasteurized retail milk samples in the U.S. to test for evidence of H5N1 and generally support their wastewater detection research. The collaboration is ongoing.
  
  

• Drafted 2 policy memos for state-level pandemic prevention infrastructure: state-level sequencing of pathogens of concern, and rapid research grant disbursement mechanisms for pandemic and pre-pandemic threats.
  
  

• Organized an ongoing 2024-2025 H5N1 Task Force of over a dozen experts in medicine and public health from across the U.S., with representation from Canada and the UK, to exchange information on H5N1 with each other on Zoom and Whatsapp, and provide guidance to APPA on our H5N1 initiatives, research collaborations, and intervention strategies.
  
  

• Built an APPA Scientific & Medical Advisory Board composed of 5 renowned professors from Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, Emory University, University of Saskatchewan, and the University of Maryland to ensure science-based rigor of APPA day-to-day and in the long term.
  
  

• Provided pro bono support to scientists for expanding H5 screening of human Flu A samples to enhance H5N1 case detection in rural areas, and inspired one group to deploy their system sooner than otherwise, or at all.
  
  

• Sent 900 H5N1-awareness emails to clinicians and hospital executives in Missouri within 1 week of CDC announcing the first hospitalized human case of H5N1 of unknown transmission in the U.S., at a time in which epidemiological information on the case was uncertain and delayed. APPA’s messaging included a recommendation for clinicians to proactively subtype Flu A positives for H5 detection, four months ahead of the CDC making a similar recommendation to all clinicians throughout the country.
  
  

• Petitioned the authors of a citizen-introduced November 2024 California state ballot measure (that would have created a $10B ‘California Institute for Pandemic Prevention’) to save their measure from being withdrawn. Although the measure was ultimately withdrawn, our petition inspired the authors to negotiate harder on behalf of the public in a compromise with the Governor that expanded the scope of the preexisting California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine (CIAPM) to include pandemic prevention technology research. APPA also provided input to the authors on recommending public health experts to CIAPM.