On Monday, the Director of the Pandemic Center Jennifer Nuzzo presented a lecture titled “Pandemic-Proofing the Future” at a Presidential Faculty Award Lecture. Five years after a state of emergency was declared for COVID-19 by the World Health Organization, Nuzzo discussed ways we can better prepare for future pandemics.
President Christina Paxson P’19 P’MD’20 opened the event and Nuzzo was introduced by Francesca Beaudoin PhD’16, the academic dean of the School of Public Health.
Nuzzo, who is also a professor of epidemiology, opened her lecture by recognizing the devastating “failures” of the American health care system after nationwide shutdowns left cities, such as New York City, desolate.
“I don’t want to imply that New York was wrong to (shutdown),” Nuzzo told The Herald in an interview after the event. “The fact that it had to come to that was a failure.”
The lecture pivoted to the present day and the possibility of future pandemics as Nuzzo argued that they are not “once-in-a-century events.” She pointed to the emergence of H5N1, also known as bird flu, as a case study.
“Now (H5N1) can’t yet easily infect people,” Nuzzo said. Should it be able to transmit between humans, Nuzzo said “it would start another pandemic.”
But she argued that with proper preparation, future pandemics are preventable.
A big step in improving our pandemic response is to “redefine public health education,” according to Nuzzo.
“There are going to be more of these events and I want people to understand them, be ready for them and be ready to snap into action,” Nuzzo told The Herald in an interview after the event.
The lecture was followed by a question and answer session with Nuzzo.
In one response, Nuzzo attributed the disproportionate impacts of the pandemic on planners who didn’t consider “the lens of equity and socioeconomic status.”
“It’s about targeting our resources in the places where they are most needed and not wasting them on places where they are not,” she said.
In responses to other questions, Nuzzo emphasized the necessity of bipartisan support for research funding and pandemic preparedness, as well as the collaboration between the public and private sectors to properly respond to public health crises.
“The end of one emergency does not end all emergencies,” Nuzzo said. “We need to train people for the realities of the world that they’re going to have in the next 100 years, not the last 100 years.”
Jasmine Warren GS, a first-year master’s student in public health, left the lecture feeling “hopeful” for the future.
“Though we are in a very changing time, I do feel reassured that something is being done and that there is hope for the future,” she said. “There is hope that we can continue to work on preparedness and it will become more of a bipartisan issue again.”
Isabelle Boullier GS, another first-year master’s student in public health, shared Warren’s enthusiasm.
“In an era of misinformation, a pandemic is not a one-and-done thing,” Boullier said. “It’s important that we look at what we’ve done, that we take accountability and that we apply it to some of the next issues and scenarios that we’re seeing.”
Ashish Jha, the dean of the School of Public Health, praised Nuzzo’s presentation.
With her lecture covering a unique multidisciplinary approach to pandemics, Jha said it “perfectly encapsulated who Jennifer is.”
Ian Ritter is a senior staff writer covering graduate schools and students. He is a sophomore from New Jersey studying Chemistry and International and Public Affairs. When he’s not at the Herald, you can find him playing clarinet or explaining the rules of kickball to confused listeners.
