BOSTON — A Fairborn native led the team that came up with the original “flatten the curve” plan that healthcare leaders are now using to fight COVID-19.
“Growing up in Ohio has made a difference in how I see the world because I feel like I grew up very grounded,” said Dr. Rajeev Venkayya.
In the early 2000s, Dr. Venkayya led a team at the White House to come up with the strategy. Then, it was called “targeted layered containment.”
“We began to think about what communities can do to protect themselves by using things that we call non-pharmaceutical interventions. And that was the origin of the flatten the curve strategy,” Dr. Venkayya told News Center 7’s Molly Koweek in a FaceTime interview Friday.
In 2007, the federal government published its official guidance on the concept.
Its first major use came in 2020 with the arrival of COVID-19. Dr. Venkayya said it is validating to see the strategy put to use.
“People have looked back and seen what the key principals are, what the key compartments of transmission like schools and large gatherings could be, and how you could change the way we do things to reduce transmission,” Dr. Venkayya said.
However, he did not predict the restrictions the world is seeing to stop the spread.
Dr. Venkayya now works as the president of the Global Vaccine Business Unit at Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Ltd. which is based in Japan.
He said his company is partnering with developers and plans to manufacture a vaccine when it is ready.
“I don’t think the general population should be expecting to see large volumes of vaccine until the middle of next year at the earliest,” Dr. Venkayya said.
Dr. Venkayya lives in Boston with his wife and children.
© 2020 Cox Media Group
