Pandemic Center
A woman with curly brown hair stands in a library, wearing a blue top.

Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH

Director of the Pandemic Center, Professor of Epidemiology at the Brown University School of Public Health
pandemic_center@brown.edu
Research Profile
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Biography

Jennifer Nuzzo is a nationally and globally recognized leader on global health security, public health preparedness and response, and health systems resilience. Together with colleagues from the Nuclear Threat Initiative and Economist Impact, she co-leads the development of the first-ever Global Health Security Index, which benchmarks 195 countries’ public health and healthcare capacities and capabilities, their commitment to international norms and global health security financing, and socioeconomic, political, and environmental risk environments.

In addition to her scholarly work, Nuzzo regularly advises national governments and for-profit and nonprofit organizations on pandemic preparedness and response, including during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was elected to the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) in 2024 and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (AAAS) in 2025. She is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine’s (NASEM) Standing Committee for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Center for Preparedness and Response. She served as a pandemic advisor for ImpactAssets’ Stop the Spread Campaign.

Her articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, Fox News, Politico, The Hill, and The Boston Globe. She was featured in Debunking Borat, a television series on Amazon Prime Video, and her work was featured on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver. She served as COVID Advisor for the Borat Subsequent Moviefilm.

 

Recent News

The National News Desk

'Deeply dangerous': Kindergarten vaccine exemptions reach new high amid measles outbreaks

As kids embark on a new school year, newly released data shows that more kindergartners are heading to class with vaccine exemptions.

Jennifer Nuzzo, the director of Brown University's Pandemic Center, said that rise in vaccine exemptions is enough to cause concerns about disease outbreaks in schools.

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Politifact

The U.S. “had the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth.”

In a combative interview on CNN, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opened the conversation with a throwback claim.

“We had the highest death rate from COVID of any nation on earth,” Kennedy said. When host Dana Bash challenged him, Kennedy doubled down: “What I said was accurate. We had the highest death rate from COVID.”

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The National News Desk

Trump signs 'gold standard' childhood vaccine order

President Donald Trump signed an executive order recognizing what his administration framed as "gold standard childhood vaccine recommendations" for 11 "core" vaccinations.

The order follows previous steps by the administration to reduce the number of vaccinations a typical American child receives, including a government report published in January that found that kids in the U.S. get more shots than kids in peer nations.

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Boston Globe

Scared of lettuce-borne diarrhea? Maybe try locally grown.

Americans have been frightened for weeks by cyclosporiasis, a sickness with diarrhea-like symptoms caused by a parasite on shredded iceberg lettuce.

Now, with more cases potentially on the horizon, fearful customers are turning to alternative sources of lettuce not hit by the outbreak. One of those providers is Little Leaf Farms in Shirley.

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Jennifer Nuzzo in the News

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AP

Health sleuths are watching for disease threats during the World Cup

Jennifer Nuzzo and Craig Spencer are both quoted in this article:

WASHINGTON (AP) — While millions of soccer fans cheer or groan over World Cup matches spanning North America, health officials will be on high alert for germs.

A heat wave may be the most obvious health threat. But infectious diseases can spread in a crowd, and experts are set to scrutinize wastewater, hospital visits, even social media for any signs that an outbreak might be brewing.

Measles, one of the most contagious diseases, is among the top concerns, sparking a warning this week from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO. With a nearly six-week stretch of packed stadiums, bars and tourist sites in 16 cities, officials are on the lookout for a long list of infections, from the stomach bug norovirus to mosquito-borne dengue fever.