UMass Lowell welcomed the White House’s senior adviser on pandemic prevention this week, in a visit designed to facilitate collaboration and drive new responses to health care challenges.

Dr. Matt Hepburn, of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, leads efforts to implement the American Pandemic Preparedness Plan to rapidly respond to emerging COVID variants and ensure future pandemics do not take root.

Hepburn, an infection diseases and internal medicine specialist, met with UMass Lowell researchers, faculty scientists and scholars, as well as entrepreneurs launching life sciences, and medical technology startups based at the Massachusetts Medical Device Development Center (M2D2), and UMass Lowell Innovation Hub in Lowell. A partnership between UMass Lowell and UMass Chan Medical School, M2D2 is a medical device and biotech incubator that assists entrepreneurs in bringing their concepts from the drawing board to the marketplace.

“We’re grateful for Dr. Hepburn’s visit today. UMass Lowell is proud to work with federal and state government agencies, private partners and university partners to leverage our faculty’s expertise and our state-of-the-art facilities to improve the quality of life for people around the globe,” said Chancellor Julie Chen.

Before beginning her tenure as chancellor in July, Chen served UMass Lowell as its chief research officer, growing that endeavor to a nearly $95 million enterprise to include fostering industry partnerships, technology transfer, startups and innovation, core research facilities, and economic development programs.

Along with meeting entrepreneurs working in M2D2, Hepburn, UMass Lowell leaders, city officials and members of Lowell’s legislative delegation toured the university’s research spaces inside the Mark and Elisia Saab Emerging Technologies and Innovation Center; the New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation Center; and the Fabric Discovery Center.

These facilities are dedicated to pioneering advances in the life sciences, biotech, medical device, robotics and flexible electronics sectors, among others. In so doing, UMass Lowell is a driver of economic development in these fields for the Merrimack Valley, the greater Boston tech ecosystem and beyond.

“One of the greatest lessons of the COVID pandemic we learned as a nation is that we must engage all parts of the science and technology ecosystem to develop vaccines, treatments, PPE and diagnostic tests,” Hepburn said. “M2D2 is a great example of the kind of innovative centers sprouting up across the country, supporting researchers and entrepreneurs as they explore solutions to ensure the nation’s continued health and well-being.”

Hepburn was the special guest at Monday’s M2D2 Barracuda Bowl, which promoted the work of partner organizations and facilitated networking among entrepreneurs. Attended by medtech leaders and top-tier innovators, the competition was held at the offices of Minz law firm in Boston.

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