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Pandemic Center

Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH

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

SCRIPPS News

US coordinating flight for Americans aboard hantavirus-stricken cruise ship

May 8, 2026
Seventeen Americans who are currently on board the Dutch cruise ship enduring a hantavirus outbreak will make their way back to the United States on a repatriation flight arranged by the Department of State.

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The Dispatch

Could Hantavirus Go Global?

May 8, 2026
In late January 2020, an 80-year-old boarded the Diamond Princess in Yokohama with a cough. It was one of the first major outbreaks of SARS-CoV-2 outside China. As the British cruise ship sailed from Yokohama to Hong Kong, Vietnam, Taiwan, and Okinawa and back, the still-new virus spread throughout the vessel.

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Maryland Matters

Maryland ranked high among states for public health preparedness, but could be doing more

May 7, 2026
Maryland remains better prepared to combat public health emergencies than most other states, but federal shakeups in staffing and funding could threaten those protections, according to a new report from Trust for America’s Health.
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Fort Worth Star Telegram

Is Texas ready for the next pandemic? New report raises questions

May 7, 2026
Texas’ ability to respond to public health emergencies like disease outbreaks and natural disasters is at risk because of historic federal funding cuts last year, a report released Thursday, May 7, concluded.

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Huffpost

We're Infectious Disease Experts. Here's What Actually Concerns Us About This Hantavirus Outbreak.

May 6, 2026
A cruise ship that left from Argentina on April 1 is currently at the center of an outbreak of hantavirus, a virus that most commonly spreads through rodent droppings and saliva. The virus causes flu-like symptoms and can lead to death.
Read Article
Scientific American

What we learned from South Carolina’s measles outbreak

April 29, 2026
What we learned from South Carolina’s measles outbreak

The recent measles outbreak in South Carolina sickened nearly 1,000 people before public health officials got it under control. Vaccination can effectively prevent further spread

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Jennifer Nuzzo in the News

See all Pandemic Center news
June 10, 2025 The National News Desk

RFK Jr. overhauls vaccine advisory panel; doctor calls it 'dark day for public health'

(TNND) — Health officials are sounding alarms over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s decision to overhaul a vaccine advisory board with his appointees.

The Health and Human Services secretary announced Monday in a Wall Street Journal opinion article that he was replacing all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

The ACIP is an expert scientific panel that develops vaccine recommendations for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The immunization schedule, or list of recommended shots, for kids is based on the panel’s advice to the CDC.

The ACIP recommendations have consequences for which vaccines insurers are willing to cover and which vaccines doctors recommend to their patients.

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May 7, 2025 News from SPH

Are we ready?

Five years after the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, School of Public Health experts look to Washington as they weigh in on where our biosurveillance tools and preparedness systems stand now: What’s changed, what hasn’t and what must be built to make us ready for the next pandemic?
April 2, 2025 CFR - Youtube

CFR 4/2 Global Affairs Expert Webinar: Complex Public Health Emergencies

Jennifer Nuzzo, professor of epidemiology and director of the Pandemic Center at Brown University's School of Public Health, leads the conversation on complex public health emergencies.

This work represents the views and opinions solely of the author. The Council on Foreign Relations is an independent, nonpartisan membership organization, think tank, and publisher, and takes no institutional positions on matters of policy.
Brown University School of Public Health
Providence RI 02903 401-863-3375 public_health@brown.edu

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Jennifer Nuzzo, DrPH