Indian American Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician, has joined the White House COVID-19 Response Team as a senior policy advisor for global Covid response. Dr. Bhadelia is widely known as an international expert on highly infectious diseases and also emerging diseases. She also founded Boston University’s Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy & Research (CEID) in 2021.
Dr. Bhadelia, who is an associate professor of infectious diseases at BU School of Medicine, would be taking a sabbatical for the duration that she’s working with the White House full-time. She recently tweeted and expressed her happiness at being appointed to the post. She said it was a great opportunity to serve her country.
With her strong background in global health and infectious disease, Dr. Bhadelia is expected to bring a lot to the White House position. Her work in West and East Africa during multiple Ebola virus outbreaks and contribution to pandemic preparedness in Liberia and Uganda has been exemplary. She’s also a member of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Technical Advisory Group for Universal Health and Preparedness Review. She has worked hard to transform BU’s CEID into a hub for research and actionable policies.
As for the Covid-19 pandemic, in February 2020, Dr. Bhadelia published an op-ed for The Atlantic warning that the healthcare systems all over the world will be really burdened due to the pandemic. She advised the nations to invest more in healthcare and urged the international communities to extend help to more vulnerable countries.
