Email You are free to share this article under the Attribution 4.0 International license. In early 2018, Yamey, a professor at the Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy and director of the Center for Policy Impact in Global Health based at the Duke Global Health Institute, wrote an op-ed called “The Odds of a Devastating Pandemic Just Went Up.” On January 30, 2020 the World Health Organization declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in response to the rapid spread of COVID-19.