On Monday, the National Academy of Medicine announced 100 newly elected members. Jennifer Nuzzo MA’23, director of Brown’s Pandemic Center, made the list.
Nuzzo, who is also a professor of epidemiology, was selected after co-creating the inaugural Global Health Security Index, which assesses 195 countries’ preparedness for epidemics and pandemics. She was also highlighted by NAM for her COVID-19 testing global data tracker, a resilience checklist for biological emergencies and her extensive research in US infectious disease threat readiness.
“I was deeply honored to (have been) selected for membership in the National Academy of Medicine,” Nuzzo told The Herald. “NAM and its esteemed members play an essential role in providing rigorous scientific evidence to address the nation’s and the world’s most pressing problems.”
NAM is one of the foremost accolades in the fields of health and medicine. Members are elected by their peers and guide NAM’s work to produce research, programs and policies related to healthcare and health equity.
At Brown, Nuzzo teaches the spring public health course PHP 1854: “The Epidemiology and Control of Infectious Diseases.” She has also directed the Pandemic Center at the School of Public Health since it was created in 2022 in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Center aims to produce research and collaborate with policymakers to better respond to and prevent pandemics and other biological emergencies.
Before she came to Brown in 2022, Nuzzo was a professor at the public health and medical school of Johns Hopkins, where she received her doctorate in public health in 2014 and founded the Outbreak Observatory in 2017, which aimed to help prevent operational challenges to pandemic response. Nuzzo was also previously a member of the US Environmental Protection Agency’s National Drinking Water Advisory Council.
