In 2020, Prof Ken Smith, Head of the Department of Medicine at University of Cambridge, was at the forefront of research in the University’s Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre when the pandemic broke out. We speak to him to get a glimpse of how the research groups in the Centre pivoted towards research on COVID-19, and how that research played a central role in the UK’s response to the pandemic. We also discuss how the world should prepare for the next pandemic, and how genomic surveillance will be central to the response.