Dr. Nahid Bhadelia of BU to Join White House COVID-19 Response Team

India-West News Desk

BOSTON, MA – Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, an infectious diseases physician and professor at Boston University School of Medicine, has been appointed to the White House COVID-19 Response Team as senior policy adviser for global COVID response.

The White House team was established by President Joe Biden to respond to the pandemic and is now led by White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha.

“Some big personal news. I am honored to join @WHCOVIDResponse

 as the Senior Policy Advisor for Global COVID-19 Response. I am humbled to have the opportunity to serve my country & to continue working with our global partners,” Bhadelia tweeted.

She will be taking a sabbatical from her work in Boston. BU Vice President and Associate Provost for Research Gloria Waters, in a statement, described Bhadelia as “an international expert and leader in highly communicable and emerging infectious diseases” with “extensive clinical, field, academic, and policy experience in pandemic preparedness.”

Bhadelia has worked in pandemic preparedness in Liberia and Uganda and has been involved in West and East Africa during multiple outbreaks of Ebola. She is a member of the World Health Organization’s Technical Advisory Group for Universal Health and Preparedness Review, which works to improve the metrics used for measuring pandemic preparedness.