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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
Twitter

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 Guardian

Ebola cases in Kenya highlight US failures amid Trump cuts to key services

October 19, 2026
An eighth person in Kenya has tested positive for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola in the country’s first-ever cluster of cases of the virus, as the second-largest outbreak in history has killed more than 4,300 and sickened more than 9,000 people in the region.
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Read Article
Boston Globe

COVID is back, but it’s not what it used to be

October 9, 2026
Earlier this year, Dr. Jeremy Faust noticed what he considered a remarkable COVID landmark that came and went with little fanfare.

From early May through early August, COVID was virtually nonexistent in Massachusetts’ waste water. During that roughly three-month period, the virus claimed fewer than 10 lives, a record low over the past six years.
Read Article
ITV News

WHO wants answers from Russia on death of worker at plague research lab

October 7, 2026
The World Health Organisation has said it doesn’t know how a lab worker in Siberia died, and she urged Russia to provide more information about a case that prompted global concerns about suspected pneumonic plague.

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New York Times

What Experts Want to Know About the Russia Plague Scare

October 7, 2026
A 28-year-old worker at a research laboratory in Siberia recently died of pneumonia. The facility studies plague, among other pathogens, raising fears that she had been exposed at the laboratory.
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TIME

What Worries Experts About the Russia 'Plague' Incident

October 7, 2026
A laboratory worker in a plague research institute in Siberia died last week after developing pneumonia. Since then, local reports suggesting that she broke a test tube containing plague bacteria have fueled speculation about how she became ill. Russian authorities disputed that account and told the World Health Organization (WHO) that plague had not been detected in her tests nor in those of her close contacts.
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CNN

Facing Russian stonewalling, Trump admin ramps up pressure for info as it struggles to plan for potential plague fallout

October 7, 2026
The Trump administration is struggling to get clear answers about the death of a Russian laboratory worker at an institute dedicated to studying the plague and has formally escalated its request for information from the country, amid days of stonewalling from Russian officials about the mysterious circumstances surrounding the episode.

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Read Article

Jennifer Nuzzo in the News

See all Pandemic Center news
September 24, 2026 MedCentral

Who Do We Trust Now? The Growth of Alternative, Non-Federal Information Sources

Director Jennifer Nuzzo and the Tracking Report are featured in this article on alternative information sources.
July 31, 2026 Newsweek

America’s Cyclospora Outbreak Foreshadows a Biosecurity Nightmare

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is quoted in this article.
July 31, 2026 The Huffington Post

The Hidden Impact Of Trump's Public Health Cuts Is Starting To Appear — And Experts Say This Is Only The Beginning

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo is quoted in this article.
Brown University School of Public Health
Providence RI 02903 401-863-3375 public_health@brown.edu

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