Nahid Bhadelia to Head New BU Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases

Dr. Bhadelia in blue jacket in front of windows

Will connect policy with research and use lessons from Ebola and COVID to prepare lawmakers and the public for next crisis

The first-floor classroom is empty inside the Boston University School of Medicine on a gray and chilly May morning in the South End. The whiteboard is marked up from earlier instruction and the only sound is the hum of fluorescent lights overhead. With an audience of one, and from behind her blue mask, Nahid Bhadelia slips on one hat after another, pivoting seamlessly from healthcare policy wonk to infectious diseases physician to MED associate professor to expert researcher in highly communicable diseases.

Listening to her, it’s easy to see why Bhadelia is such a sought-after expert voice on the coronavirus pandemic—no question, no subject, is out of her comfort zone.

With so many roles, it’s difficult to imagine Bhadelia finding time for another. But, in fact, she’s poised to take on perhaps her most ambitious professional challenge yet. On June 1, BU will launch the Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research (CEID), with Bhadelia as its founding director. The center’s purpose is to marry technical expertise in emerging infectious diseases—like COVID-19, Zika, and Ebola—with policy research and to provide recommendations to governments, communities, and academic institutions to help them prepare, and respond to, epidemics and pandemics at local, national, and global levels.

Read the entire BU Today story by Doug Most.

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