Event Description

On October 23 at 11:00 AM EDT, join the ninth event in the seminar series hosted by the Pandemic Center Biosecurity Game Changers Fellows, "Biosecurity & Pandemic Preparedness: Why We Need a Stronger Health Emergency Workforce.”

Convened and moderated by and intended for early-to-mid-career professionals, the Game Changers Seminar Series shines a spotlight on major challenges that will confront the next generation of biosecurity leaders and explores impactful next steps that can be taken to lean forward faster to prevent biological crises.

The current Ebola outbreak and other recent health emergencies have highlighted the critical role of a well-prepared health emergency workforce in preventing and responding to biological threats. This seminar will explore approaches to strengthening health emergency workforces, including workforce capacity, surge preparedness, coordination, and leadership, while drawing on practical lessons to support preparedness and response.

Panel

This event will be moderated by Joyce Fati Masvaya, Founder of Biodefenders Africa Network (BAN) and current Biosecurity Game Changers Fellow.

The panel will include top experts in the field, including:

• Dr. Emmanuel Agogo, Independent Global Health Consultant at Forward Health Ltd/GTe
   
• Valentin Disashi, Technical Manager of HCL-BSL3 at the National Institute of Biomedical Research in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and current Biosecurity Game Changers Fellow
   
• Dr. Dinah Nasike, Global Health Security Policy Advisor and Coordinator for the National Implementation of the Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC) Framework in Uganda and former Biosecurity Game Changers Fellow.

Please contact pandemic_center@brown.edu with any questions.

Register Here

Event Description

On November 6 at 12:00PM ET the Pandemic Center will host a webinar titled: Measles: Why It’s Not Stopping.

In 2026, there have been more measles deaths and cases in the United States than in any year since 1991. Pennsylvania is currently investigating a potential sixth measles-related death and, nationally, there have been over 4,600 cases so far this year. Twenty-six years after the country achieved measles elimination status, the country stands on the precipice of losing that designation when the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) meets in November.

How did this happen? Why has it continued and, in many areas, worsened? In this Pandemic Center webinar, we will convene an expert panel to discuss these questions and more.

Pannel

Moderator: Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH, Director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health

• Paul Offit, M.D., Director of the Vaccine Education Center and Attending Physician in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
• Jonathan Temte, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emeritus and Associate Dean Emeritus for Public Health and Community Engagement, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health

This webinar is part of the Pandemics & Society series, which focuses on current pandemic threats and response systems as well as how to build preparedness for the future.

Please contact pandemic_center@brown.edu with any questions.

Register Here

Event Description

The Pandemic Center welcomes global health pioneer John Nkengasong to the School of Public Health for a conversation and Q&A on November 11 at 12pm ET.

Ambassador (ret.) Nkengasong was the first Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. He served as the US Global AIDS Coordinator and Senior Bureau Official for Global Health Security and Diplomacy in the Biden administration, and has held positions at the World Health Organization and US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This event is open to all and is designed particularly for students and the Brown SPH community to learn from an expert in the field with unmatched firsthand experience in confronting the world’s most prominent public health challenges.

The discussion will be moderated by members of the Pandemic Center team:

Senior Adviser Beth Cameron, a national and global leader in health security, biosecurity, and pandemic preparedness that has worked, over decades, both within the highest levels of government and outside of it to facilitate change.

Horizon Fellow Oluwatosin Wuraola Akande, who has served as a Technical Officer in the Health Emergencies Programme at the World Health Organization (WHO) and as an Assistant Director at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

Lunch will be provided to attendees. Please register in advance to ensure an accurate headcount.

Register Here

Stay tuned for info on future events!

Check out our former events here

Event Date

This event was held on June 2, the Pandemic Center presented a talk by Professor Michael Baker, titled: “Why exclusion/elimination should be the default response for future severe pandemics.”

Description

This presentation discussed the range of potential strategic choices available in response to severe pandemic threats. It will focus on ‘elimination’, which became the dominant initial response to Covid-19 across much of the Asia-Pacific region, including New Zealand (NZ) and Australia. The presentation reviewed the impact of this strategy, drawing on NZ experience, along with its advantages and disadvantages. It summarized how this response strategy - and “exclusion,” which is its more proactive form - can be built into future preparedness to improve global health security.

Presenter

Professor Michael Baker, University of Otago, Wellington, New Zealand; and Visiting Fulbright Scholar, Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Professor Michael Baker is a public health physician, epidemiologist, and active researcher in the Department of Public Health, University of Otago, Wellington, NZ. He is visiting the United States as a Fulbright Scholar from April to September 2026. In NZ, he leads the Health Protection Aotearoa Research Centre which investigates ways of improving prevention and control of infectious diseases and environmental health hazards. Michael took a leading role in shaping NZ’s Covid-19 pandemic response, particularly the elimination strategy. He has a strong interest in science communication and directs the national Public Health Communications Centre.

Student Event

On April 21 at 12pm ET, the Pandemic Center hosted a workshop for students led by Jason Gale, Senior Editor and Biosecurity Correspondent at Bloomberg News, titled: Designing the First 60 Days of the Next Pandemic: Early decisions, hidden trade-offs, and the long tail of a pandemic.

About this workshop

This workshop challenged students to think beyond transmission and mortality, and to consider how early decisions shape a pandemic’s long-term health and societal consequences.

Drawing on lessons from Covid-19, the workshop explored how surges affect care delivery, the lasting burden of conditions like Long Covid, and how crisis-driven changes can create harms that persist well beyond the acute phase. The focus was on trade-offs — what gets prioritized, what gets missed, and how a broader view of risk might change decisions early on.

This workshop was designed for Brown University students.

On November 18, 2025, Craig Spencer, MD, MPH hosted Gabriella Stern for an event in the Public Health in Practice Seminar Series titled Health Communication as Essential Infrastructure for Global Health.

Stern’s career has spanned top-tier international journalism, philanthropy and public service. She led communications for the World Health Organization (WHO) throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, developing high-stakes, high-profile strategies at the most consequential time in public health communications in living memory.

This Pandemic Center event, was part of Dr. Spencer’s Public Health in Practice Seminar Series, looked at the case that the period of 2020-2025 has made for a belated recognition of health communications as a global public good, one benefiting from proper financial investments, an enhanced research agenda to strengthen quality and impact, and strategic positioning at the heart of relevant sub national, national, regional and global institutions.

Highlights from this event are covered in an article from the School of Public Health.
Read here