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Pandemic Center

Tao Burga

Behavioral Decision Sciences, Specialization in National Security. Tao graduated in 2024 and is an incoming fellow at the is a Fellow at the Institute for Progress.

What has been your involvement with the Pandemic Center and its team or issues? What's the most important lesson you’ve learned from your involvement with the Pandemic Center? 

Last fall, I took the course “Pandemic Game Changers” with Profs. Beth Cameron and Wilmot James. The course taught us about our long history of pandemics, the importance of global health security, the role of governments and other actors in pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, and more. In that course, I learned to think clearly and pragmatically about the opportunities we have to tackle this incredibly important problem. 

What have been some of your goals, and how will you make a difference as a ‘game changer’?

I am optimistic that humanity will reach technological and moral maturity sometime in the future, but pandemics (especially the most destructive ones) could permanently derail our civilization and prevent us from reaching our full potential. There is nothing more motivating to me than helping to prevent these low-probability but extremely high-consequence events. To kickstart my career, I have applied to the Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship at the UN, I am applying to a biosecurity fundamentals course, and look forward to staying engaged!

What’s your advice or message to the next class of game changers and pandemic decision makers?

Think about what really matters, especially when making choices about your career. Do something for others; try to do good at scale.

 

Brown University School of Public Health
Providence RI 02903 401-863-3375 public_health@brown.edu

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Tao Burga