Our 2 day symposium and pandemic exercise discussed lessons learned and challenges of operating Public Health Emergency Operations Centers during the COVID-19 pandemic on Day 1 followed by a pandemic emergency tabletop exercises on Day 2 to incorporate key challenges and lessons learned.

This symposium was a knowledge sharing, capacity building, and networking event that brought together public health decision makers during the pandemic, directors and members of the public health emergency operations centers at different levels, industry experts supporting PHEOCs, local, provincial and national level emergency managers, faculty, trainees, and public health professionals.

The key goals and objectives of the two day symposium were to:

• Examine major challenges in running public Health Emergency Operations Centers during the COVID-19 pandemic

• Share experiences and lessons learned

• Understand existing organizational, structural, and technical issues and gaps in PH-EOCs

• Explore potential transformations and changes needed to address these issues

• Examine next generations and future public health pandemic exercises