A University of Pittsburgh Medical Center expert is part of a new initiative being announced today to prevent the spread of emerging infectious diseases.

Dr. Richard Waldhorn, a distinguished scholar at UPMC's Center for Biosecurity, will serve on the steering committee of a group called the Global Pandemic Initiative.

With representation from IBM, the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the initiative will explore the use of computer technology as part of a global preparedness program to respond to potential infectious disease outbreaks.

"We are giving advice about what would be needed to aid in the effort to use information technology to the advantage of the world community in organizing the approach to epidemic diseases" and pandemics, Dr. Waldhorn said.

UPMC and IBM already are partners in a joint development fund to commercialize innovations in health care, including some in the biosecurity realm, but those efforts are separate from the initiative, Dr. Waldhorn said.

The pandemic initiative will use software IBM intends to contribute to the open-source community that can help share information on disease outbreaks electronically. The software also can help predict how diseases will spread.