WASHINGTON, D.C. – Current and future public health leaders now have new opportunities to connect with global and national policy makers to improve public health with the opening (1/29) of a new Washington, D.C. office of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health.
“With this office, we are expanding opportunities for students and faculty to engage directly with public policy and the people creating and implementing that policy,” said Jennifer Nuzzo, Director of the Pandemic Center. “The Pandemic Center is about impact, educating and inspiring the next generation of diverse public health leaders and building the skills to prevent and respond effectively to infectious disease emergencies. This office is central to that goal.”
The office, in the National Press Building, will serve as the Pandemic Center’s D.C. base for its students and faculty to build a new community of practice and connect current and future public health leaders with policymakers. With interest in pandemic and biosecurity-related careers rising at Brown, leaders at the Pandemic Center are launching a new effort – Game Changers – aimed at training the next generation of decision-makers and have have compiled a growing list of internships, fellowships, and other opportunities with organizations in Washington, D.C. and globally, working to combat pandemics and will continue to build strategic relationships that provide students with opportunities to work and train.
“If you want to drive policy, Washington is indispensable. If you want to engage with a broad range of stakeholders, Washington is indispensable,” said Brown University School of Public Health Dean Ashish Jha. In order to do this work to make societies safer from pandemics, “it has to be a multi-site approach. You can’t do it just from Providence.”
“Two things really excited me about coming to Brown in this moment,” said Beth Cameron, a professor of the practice and senior advisor to the Pandemic Center, who has served two tours as the White House National Security Council lead for global health security. Cameron is based in DC. “We need to train the next generation of decision-makers – those who will be in the situation room -- to be ready for worst-case scenarios, and we must be relentless and specific about the actions that are needed to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic, so we are prepared for future biological crises.”
Senior Advisor to the Pandemic Center Wilmot James said “We have a responsibility to take lessons from the past while also looking ahead. The first step is training the next generation and networking them globally. We must make a commitment to educate with a deep understanding of what happened and why, with an eye on the future.”
An open house on January 29th marked the official opening of the office. Pandemic Center leadership, including Dr. Nuzzo, Dr. Cameron, and Dr. James were joined in celebrating the opening by Dean Jha and Major General (ret.) Paul Friedrichs, Deputy Assistant to the President and the inaugural Director of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy.