When the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) meets this month, it’s expected to decide whether the U.S. will retain the measles elimination status it earned in 2000 or, as many observers expect, it will be revoked after more than a year of continuous endemic measles transmission. Join infectious disease physician experts to hear what the potential loss of measles elimination in the U.S. means, the critical role rebuilding community immunity will play in getting it back, and what conquering measles in the U.S. — again — will take.
You’ll hear from Noel Brewer, chair of the committee reporting to PAHO on behalf of the U.S.; Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP); Charlotte Moser, co-director of the CHOP Vaccine Education Center; and Lisa McHugh, the state epidemiologist of Pennsylvania, the current epicenter of measles in the U.S. You’ll also get a first look at an excerpt from an upcoming documentary from CHOP’s Vaccine Education Center about community immunity and its role in fighting measles and other infectious diseases.
November 12 @ 1:00 pm – 2:00 pm EST
Tara Haelle
AHCJ’s Health Beat Leader for Public Health
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.
Noel T. Brewer, Ph.D.
Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health, University of North Carolina
Noel T. Brewer, Ph.D., is the Gillings Distinguished Professor in Public Health at the University of North Carolina and a member of the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. He has a doctorate in health psychology from Rutgers University. He is chair of the United States of America National Verification Committee for the Elimination of Measles, Rubella, and Congenital Rubella Syndrome. This committee certifies the CDC’s report on measles elimination and interfaces with the PanAmerican Health Organization, the group that established whether the U.S. has eliminated endemic transmission of measles. He is a former voting member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. He has advised on HPV vaccination for three presidents. He has also advised CDC, WHO and other organizations on assessing the behavioral and social drivers of vaccine uptake.
Lisa McHugh, Ph.D., MPH
Director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and State Epidemiologist, Pennsylvania Department of Health
Lisa McHugh, Ph.D., MPH, serves as director of the Bureau of Epidemiology and State Epidemiologist at the Pennsylvania Department of Health. In this role, she provides leadership and oversight for statewide epidemiologic surveillance, communicable disease prevention, and public health response activities. She collaborates with local, state, and federal partners to strengthen public health infrastructure, improve disease monitoring systems, and support data-driven decision-making across the Commonwealth. She has over 25 years of experience as an applied epidemiologist working in state and local governmental health. Lisa earned a master’s of public health (MPH) degree from the University of New York at Albany and a doctorate in epidemiology from Rutgers University. She is serving as the incident manager for the measles response in Pennsylvania.
Charlotte Moser, M.S.
Co-director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center
Charlotte Moser is the Co-director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. As a scientist and communicator, Charlotte spends time working to get accurate, science-based information to families as they look for it during the vaccine decision-making process. Charlotte had published research related to virology, immunology and vaccine attitudes. She was the consumer rep on the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) when the entire committee was dismissed in June 2025.
Paul A. Offit, M.D.
Director, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Vaccine Education Center
Paul A. Offit, M.D., is the Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and a Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Offit is a voting member on the FDA’s Vaccine Advisory Committee and has previously served on the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices to the CDC. He is also the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq, recommended for universal use in infants by the CDC in 2006 and by the WHO in 2013. This vaccine was estimated recently to save about 165,000 lives a year. He is also the author of 11 books written for the public about science, medicine, and vaccines.