As a widespread outbreak of the little-known Ebola Bundibugyo virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda continues to command global attention and generate controversy, accurate and nuanced reporting has never been more important.
On June 30, AHCJ and the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team (EVAT) hosted a one-hour briefing and discussion to help journalists and other communicators build a deeper understanding of the virus — including its epidemiology and spread, strategies for containment, what the US needs to do to be prepared, and the latest advances in vaccines and treatments.
This one-hour webinar brought together prominent, experienced voices in infectious disease, public health, and vaccines to walk reporters through the core science in plain, accessible terms, including:
- Craig Spencer, M.D., MPH, an emergency medicine physician and Associate Professor at Brown University. He was deeply involved in the 2014 Ebola response in Guinea, both as a physician responding to the outbreak and then, as a survivor of the disease.
- Daniel Jernigan, M.D., a former CDC leader of multiple responses to public health emergencies, including the 2014 Ebola response in Sierra Leone and in the US.
- Mary Bassett, M.D., MPH, Professor at the Harvard University School of Public Health who was New York City’s Health Commissioner from 2014–2018, leading its Ebola response.
- Philip Krause, M.D., a virologist and infectious diseases specialist who serves as Chair of WHO COVID Vaccines Research Expert Group. He was formerly Deputy Director of FDA’s Office of Vaccines Research and Review.
The session was moderated by AHCJ’s Tara Haelle.
Tara Haelle
AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Infectious Diseases and Medical Studies
Tara Haelle is AHCJ’s health beat leader for infectious diseases and medical studies. She’s an independent science/health journalist, author, speaker, and photographer. Her work has appeared in the National Geographic, Scientific American, Texas Monthly, Science News, Medscape/WebMD, The New York Times, Wired, and O Magazine, among others. She specializes in public health and medical research, particularly vaccines, infectious disease, maternal and pediatric health, mental health, healthcare disparities, and misinformation. She also covers medical research conferences and edits Long COVID Connection on Medium. Haelle earned a master’s in photojournalism from the University of Texas at Austin, and her images have appeared in Texas Monthly, NPR, the, Chicago Sun-Times and elsewhere.
Mary Bassett, M.D., MPH
Professor of the practice of health and human rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Mary T. Bassett is the Director of the FXB Center for Health and Human Rights at Harvard University, as well as the FXB Professor of the Practice of Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. With more than 30 years of experience in public health, Dr. Mary Travis Bassett has dedicated her career to advancing health equity. Prior to her directorship at the FXB Center, Dr. Bassett served for four years as commissioner of Health for New York City. As commissioner, she worked to ensure that every New York City neighborhood supported the health of its residents, with the goal of closing gaps in population health across the city.
Daniel Jernigan, M.D., MPH
Former director, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, CDC
Daniel B. Jernigan, M.D., MPH, recently resigned his position as Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Jernigan completed training at Duke University and Baylor College of Medicine and has completed residencies in Internal Medicine and Preventive Medicine.
He entered the CDC in 1994 as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer, and has been studying respiratory and emerging diseases since that time. He is a retired Captain in the U.S. Public Health Service and was the recipient of the 2019 Service to America Medal.
Philip Krause, M.D.
Chair, WHO COVID Vaccines Research Expert Group
Dr. Krause was for the past decade Deputy Director, Office of Vaccines Research and Review (OVRR) at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). Dr. Krause is currently Chair of the World Health Organization COVID Vaccines Research Expert Group, and most recently he shared responsibility for regulatory authorizations of COVID-19 vaccines in the US.
In a 30-year career at FDA Dr. Krause has collaborated at the highest levels with international and US domestic stakeholders including the European Medicines Association (EMA), Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Craig Spencer, M.D., MPH
Public health professor and emergency medicine physician, Brown University School of Public Health
Craig Spencer, M.D., MPH is an emergency medicine physician, public health researcher, and Associate Professor of the Practice of Health Services, Policy, and Practice at Brown University School of Public Health. His work spans global health and domestic community engagement — connecting nearly two decades of frontline humanitarian experience to an emerging body of research and practice focused on rebuilding public trust in American health institutions.
Dr. Spencer’s field work has taken him across Africa and Southeast Asia as a physician and epidemiologist with Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), including leading outbreak investigations in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Chad, and serving as a coordinator of MSF’s national epidemiological response during the West Africa Ebola epidemic.
