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Pandemic Center

The Pandemic Center

The Pandemic Center

Informing Action. Training Leaders. Increasing Resilience.

We are in an age of pandemic threats.

COVID-19, the most consequential pandemic in a century, is not our last. The Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health works to reduce vulnerabilities and increase resilience to pandemics, other biological emergencies, and the harms they pose to health, peace, security, and prosperity. The Pandemic Center is an independent and credible voice for positive disruption.

This Pandemic Center is uniquely positioned to work across disciplines and sectors to generate and analyze evidence, educate a new generation of leaders, and ensure this work is translated to effective policy and practice around the globe.

Momentum trangles

The Pandemic Center Tracking Report

Each week, we review published data concerning domestic and international infectious disease outbreaks. Our goal is to interpret, contextualize, and summarize this data to keep readers informed about health threats.

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Brown Univeristy

Brown Fellowship in University History

May 6, 2025
The Office of the Provost, in conjunction with the John Nicholas Brown Center for Advanced Study, sponsors year-long fellowships for Brown University faculty members to conduct research on Brown University's historical legacy.

This fellowship in University History represents Brown's ongoing commitment to uncovering and understanding its institutional history through scholarly research and community engagement. One fellowship is awarded per year.

In support of work on their project, the fellow receives one-course release during the fellowship year, research funds of $2,500, and the support of one Undergraduate Teaching and Research Award (UTRA) to assist with research activities. Fellows become integral members of the JNBC scholarly community, participating in seminars and other intellectual activities.
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Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

Will America be “flying blind” on bird flu? A key wastewater-tracking program may soon end

May 3, 2025
Peering into wastewater for public health has a history dating back at least to the late 19th century, when a biologist in Boston cultured sewage in beef jelly, bouillon, boiled potatoes, and milk to see if anything would grow. Later, scientists in Scotland looked at wastewater to assess the spread of typhoid. After injecting monkeys with sewage in the 1930s, American researchers realized that wastewater polio virus concentrations correlated with community infections. It was the COVID-19 pandemic, however, that led to skyrocketing investment in wastewater disease surveillance in the United States—this time with the aid of modern biotechnology and without bouillon or monkeys.

As COVID transitioned from a deadly novelty to something closer to a mundane nuisance, testing for the virus fell off a cliff. Wastewater surveillance became central to public health officials’ ability to track COVID. The same is true for other threats, like H5N1 avian influenza. Bird flu has now spread from wild birds, to poultry, to cattle, and, worryingly, to a wide variety of other mammals, including people. Still testing remains limited. The federal government has invested at least $500 million in building wastewater-surveillance capacity since 2021. But that funding expires in September. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist who is the director of The Brown University Pandemic Center, told me we may soon be left with an even murkier understanding of how diseases like COVID and bird flu are spreading.
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New York Times

Kennedy Orders Search for New Measles Treatments Instead of Urging Vaccination

May 2, 2025
With the United States facing its largest single measles outbreak in 25 years, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will direct federal health agencies to explore potential new treatments for the disease, including vitamins, according to an H.H.S. spokesman. The decision is the latest in a series of actions by the nation’s top health official that experts fear will undermine public confidence in vaccines as an essential public health tool.

The announcement comes as Mr. Kennedy faces intense backlash for his handling ofthe outbreak. It has swept through large areas of the Southwest where vaccination rates are low, infecting hundreds and killing two young girls. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported more than 930 cases nationwide, most of which are associated with the Southwest outbreak.
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Biosecurity Game Changers Fellowship

Next generation leaders chosen to be biosecurity game changers, serve in key global organizations to shape the future of the field.

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Evidence to Drive Decision-Making

We are responding to the need to generate, synthesize and translate evidence to better define the most effective policies, practices, and resources to prepare for future infectious disease emergencies and confront the current crisis.
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Preventing Pandemic Harms Across Society

Addressing these challenges demands inter-disciplinary approaches that bring together scholars and policy-makers from across multiple disciplines.
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Creating and Impacting Leaders

The Center is dedicated to cross-training a new generation of diverse pandemic leaders and equipping them with the skills and knowledge they need to make change in the world.
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Maximum Impact to Prevent, Detect, and Change Pandemic Outcomes

Engaging with governments, nonprofit, and for-profit organizations and media across the globe, the Pandemic Center works to advance evidence-based policies and practices to save lives, improve quality of life and equity and avert existential biological risks.
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Explore the American Democracy and Health Security Initiative: Lamplighters and New Recommendations

The Initiative's website collects hundreds of Pandemic Lamplighter stories and lessons learned from their innovation and ingenuity in the face of pandemic darkness.

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Pandemic Center Offices

Providence

Brown University School of Public Health

121 S. Main Street, Providence, RI 02903

Google Maps view of Pandemic Center's Providence Location

Washington, D.C.

National Press Building

1320 F St NW, Washington, DC 20045

Google Maps view of Pandemic Center's DC Location

Brown University School of Public Health
Providence RI 02903 401-863-3375 public_health@brown.edu

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