Smithsonian Presents Screening of Documentary "Spillover: Zika, Ebola & Beyond"

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History will host a free screening of the new HHMI’s Tangled Bank Studios film, Spillover: Zika, Ebola & Beyond, Nov. 15 at 6:30 p.m. in Baird Auditorium. A discussion hosted by BBC correspondent and television presenter Jane O’Brien will follow. 

For the past half century, a number of diseases have spilled over from animals to humans with increasing frequency. What is behind the rise in spillover diseases? What can be done to stop them? Spillover: Zika, Ebola & Beyond is a harrowing documentary that follows scientists into the world’s hot zones in a search for answers, and it does so while providing much-needed scientific context for the most recent Ebola and Zika outbreaks. The film extends to the new frontiers of disease detection, prevention and containment, and travels the world with virus hunters who are tracking old enemies while vigilantly looking out for new foes.

Following the screening, a panel of international experts will discuss Zika, including how scientists have tracked the disease globally and locally, how the disease affects people and how to prepare for a potential outbreak in Washington, D.C., and other locales.

Featured speakers include Vanessa van der Linden, M.D., neuropediatrician at the Association for Assistance of Disabled Children in Recife, Brazil, and the Barão de Lucena Hospital in Recife, and one of the first to recognize the severity and extent of the Zika outbreak on newborn children in Brazil; Anthony Fauci, M.D., immunologist and director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Yvonne-Marie Linton, Ph.D., research entomologist in the Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit; and LaQuandra S. Nesbitt, M.D., M.P.H., director of the D.C. Department of Health.

Admission is free, but registration is required. Information and registration are available on the program’s website. 

The National Museum of Natural History is one of the most-visited natural history museums in the world. Opened in 1910, the museum is dedicated to maintaining and preserving the world’s most extensive collection of natural history specimens and human artifacts. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free. For more information, visit the museum on its website and on Facebook and Twitter.

The film was produced by HHMI’s Tangled Bank Studios, a production company dedicated to the creation of original science documentaries for broadcast, theatrical and digital distribution. Founded in 2011 by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as an extension of its long-standing science education mission, the company aims to produce programs that capture compelling stories of discovery across all branches of scientific inquiry. Headquartered in Chevy Chase, Md., Tangled Bank Studios partners with producers, broadcasters and distributors around the world.

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