Ashish Jha and Miriam Laufer on Vaccines, COVID and Kids

A practicing physician, Ashish K. Jha,  M.D., MPH, is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on health policy research and practice. He joined to the Brown School of Public Health as Dean fter leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Jha has published more than two hundred original research publications in prestigious journals such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the BMJ, and is a frequent contributor to a range of public media. He has extensively researched how to improve the quality and reduce the cost of health care, focusing on the impact of public health policy nationally and around the globe. Before joining the Brown School of Public Health, Dr. Jha was a faculty member at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH) since 2004 and Harvard Medical School since 2005. He was the Faculty Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute from 2014 until September 2020. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the Dean for Global Strategy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A general internist previously with the West Roxbury VA in Massachusettts, he practicea at the Providence VA Medical Center.  Ashish was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013. Follow him on twitter @ashishkjha

Miriam Laufer MD is the Assistant Dean for Student Research and Education at University of Maryland School of Medicine Dr. Laufer is a pediatric infectious disease specialist, with a primary research interest in malaria and global child health. She has conducted research, clinical care and professional education in resource-limited countries in Africa and Asia, and has dedicated nearly two decades to working in Malawi. She and her research team use clinical and laboratory research to develop and evaluate interventions to decrease the burden of malaria in sub-Saharan Africa. She currently serves as Principal Investigator for clinical trials, epidemiological studies and a Fogarty training grant, that support her collaboration with colleagues throughout the US, Europe and Africa. In 2006, she published her first author paper Return of Chloroquine Antimalarial Efficacy in Malawi in the New England Journal of Medicine Dr. Laufer directs the Malaria Research Program at the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health. ‌‌The Malaria Research Program aims to support global malaria eradication efforts by developing and deploying innovative tools for improved malaria treatment, prevention and surveillance. Recognizing that progress requires interdisciplinary and international partnerships now and in the future, we work in collaboration with researchers across the globe and focus on training young scientists and clinical investigators to build research capacity both in the US and in malaria-endemic countries. Follow her on twitter @MirLaufer