About PREVENT
PREVENT (Preparedness through Respiratory Virus Epidemiology and Community Engagement) is a research center dedicated to understanding and mitigating the spread of respiratory viruses in communities. As part of the Community and Household Acute Respiratory Illness Monitoring (CHARM) Network, funded by the CDC, PREVENT conducts comprehensive, real-world studies to track respiratory infections, assess immunity, and inform public health strategies.
Led by UC San Diego, PREVENT brings together partners from academic institutions, healthcare systems, and community organizations to establish a large-scale surveillance and data-driven response framework. Our work focuses on both community-level monitoring and household transmission dynamics, integrating innovative approaches such as genomic sequencing, environmental sampling, and advanced data analytics. As the Data and Analytics Hub for the entire CHARM Network (co-led by Scripps Research and UC San Diego), we play a central role in organizing, analyzing, and sharing data to improve pandemic preparedness and response nationwide.
Our Study
The PREVENT study is enrolling 25,000 community participants in San Diego County to better understand how respiratory viruses spread and impact daily life. Through symptom monitoring, diagnostic testing, and immune response analysis, we aim to uncover key factors that influence infection risk, disease severity, and long-term health outcomes, and also develop strategies that can be rapidly scaled and expanded if a pandemic arises.
Participants will have access to no-cost testing for COVID-19, Influenza, and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), and will contribute to vital research that informs public health policies and shapes the future of pandemic preparedness by enhancing vaccine strategies and improving our collective response to respiratory illnesses.