Ali Judd, VERDI co-scientific coordinator, shares insights on her experience with the VERDI Consortium. This story is taken from Penta’s 2022 Social Report.

“Despite having a very short window in which to write the VERDI proposal, it was amazing that so many brilliant partners came on board, laying the foundations for a wonderful global collaboration, underpinned by the very experienced team at Penta.

One of the defining aspects of COVID-19 is that of course it really affected everybody, and as a result there are a diverse range of studies out there which can help us answer questions related to SARS-CoV-2 and maternal and child health. VERDI includes everything: from large, population-level electronic medical record datasets, to discrete cohorts of hospitalised patients with COVID-19, testing studies in schools, transmission studies, and participatory surveillance.

A year into the 4-year grant, we are beginning to see the fruits of the collaboration, and it is rewarding to witness all the cross-consortium activity, sharing of ideas and know-how, and of course results, abstracts and papers, informing the policy response. These collaborations always lead to new opportunities, and some of the fun is seeing these opportunities emerge, meeting new people, discussing gaps and opportunities, and thinking about the next grant!”