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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
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 is a pandemic advisor for Impact Assets’ Stop the Spread Campaign. 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.

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

WUSF NPR

Collier County measles outbreak at 12 cases, all students at Ave Maria University

February 4, 2026
A measles outbreak in Collier County has reached 12 confirmed cases.

This outbreak joins ones already existing and growing in Texas and South Carolina with hundreds of cases. Those outbreaks are a threat to the United States keeping its measles-free status.

Starting Jan. 29, measles cases began showing up at Ave Maria University.

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Read Article
Scientific American

A ‘shadow CDC’ is scrambling to fill gaps in public health data

February 3, 2026
Dozens of routinely updated CDC databases have gone quiet. Here’s what states and medical societies are doing to preserve U.S. public health.

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Read Article
Brown Daily Herald

Brown experts discuss measles complications, prevention amid potential loss of measles eliminated status in the US

February 3, 2026
As measles cases continue to rise, the United States is at risk of losing its measles elimination status.

According to a spokesperson from the Pan American Health Organization, which will oversee the review of the United State’s measles elimination status on April 13, the “reestablishment of endemic transmission would be defined as a continuous chain of transmission lasting through or beyond” Jan. 20.

The Herald spoke to experts at Brown to better understand measles, its potential threats and the possibility of the United States losing its elimination status.

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Read Article
The Bulwark

‘Frustrating and Demoralizing’: The Measles Comeback Gets Worse

February 1, 2026
ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. RAMBLED THROUGH a long list of topics when he spoke at the White House during Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

He talked about dietary guidelines and rural health care. Prescription drugs and medical research. He even mentioned hospital price transparency, which is one of the more obscure parts of his portfolio as secretary of health and human services.

But there was one subject Kennedy skipped, in an omission as disturbing as it was conspicuous. He didn’t say a word about the measles outbreak in South Carolina, which is the nation’s biggest in decades.

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Read Article
The National News Desk

Medical groups endorse American Academy of Pediatrics vaccine list over CDC advice

January 26, 2026
(TNND) — A dozen leading medical groups lent their support to the American Academy of Pediatrics' 2026 childhood vaccine recommendations, which run counter to recently revised recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, published its updated vaccine schedule Monday, weeks after the CDC trimmed the list of shots it advises all children receive.

The AAP recommends routine immunizations against 18 diseases, including RSV, hepatitis B, the annual flu shot, and others that the CDC now only recommends for high-risk groups or in consultation with a doctor.

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Read Article
NYC Health + Hospitals

NYC Health + Hospitals Launches Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map to Monitor and Prepare for Outbreaks

January 22, 2026
NYC Health + Hospitals Launches Special Pathogens Biopreparedness Map to Monitor and Prepare for Outbreaks

New interactive map will help healthcare providers screen patients based on their travel history and potential exposure to special pathogens and other biothreats

The public health care system’s Biopreparedness Program, established after the 2014 Ebola outbreak, is a national leader in infectious disease preparedness and response
Read Article

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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