Milken Institute School of Public Health Experts Available for Comment on the Coronavirus Pandemic

April 29, 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. – In January 2020, an outbreak of a serious respiratory illness caused by a new coronavirus was reported in Wuhan province of China. The novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, has since spread to other countries, including Taiwan, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, across Europe, and the United States.

Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University has the following experts available to talk about the current crisis. To arrange an interview, please contact Kathy Fackelmann, [email protected], or Mina Radman, [email protected].

Lynn R. Goldman, MD, MS, MPH, the Michael and Lori Milken Dean of Milken Institute School of Public Health at the George Washington University, is an expert on emergency/public health preparedness and has deep knowledge of the intersection of policy and public health. She can talk about what’s known about COVID-19, prevention strategies and ways to protect society’s most vulnerable populations.

Ron Waldman, MD, MHP, a professor of global health, is an expert on infectious diseases. He can discuss medical infrastructure and emergency efforts like those underway to contain the current coronavirus outbreak.

Christopher Mores, ScD, professor of global health, is an arbovirologist and an expert on emerging infectious diseases. He can discuss laboratory diagnostic approaches, virus transmission patterns and global health security strategies to counter threats posed by outbreaks such as this.

Leana Wen, MD, MSc, a visiting professor of health policy and management, is an expert on governmental response to public health crises. An emergency physician and formerly the Health Commissioner for the City of Baltimore, Wen can discuss the medical and public response to the outbreak.

Jon Andrus, MD, an adjunct professor of global health, is an expert on epidemiology, vaccines, immunizations and response to emerging infectious disease threats. He previously served as the deputy director for the Pan American Health Organization, where he handled emergency response and preparedness.

Carlos Santos-Burgoa, MD, MPH, PhD, is a professor of global health, an epidemiologist and physician. Prior to joining Milken Institute SPH, he served as Director General of Mexico's Ministry of Health and senior advisor and acting department director at the Pan American Health Organization. He worked on the public health response to the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.

Jeffrey Levi, PhD, a professor of health policy and management, is an expert how policy decisions, such as cuts to public health funding, Medicaid and the public charge rule, could hamper the nation’s ability to respond to the growing coronavirus situation in the United States. For ten years, he was executive director of Trust for America’s Health where he led annual assessments of the preparedness of states and the federal government.

Sara Rosenbaum, JD, the Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy, is an expert on how policy decisions, such as cuts to Medicaid, community health centers and the implementation of the public charge rule could affect the coronavirus situation in the United States. Professor Rosenbaum is a leading public health law scholar who has devoted her career to issues such as health justice and the safety net system for medically underserved populations.

Carlos E. Rodríguez-Díaz, PhD, MPHE, MCHES, is an associate professor of prevention and community health. He can speak on preventive practices, protecting vulnerable populations (i.e., elderly, people in prison, school and university settings), sex and COVID-19, and policies needed for prevention. He can conduct interviews in English and Spanish.

Lorien Abroms, ScD, is a professor of public health communication & marketing. She can speak on preventive practices and risk communication, including with digital media and social media. She can also speak to programs and policies focused on changing health behaviors (e.g. hand-washing and social distancing).

Melissa Goldstein, JD, an associate professor of health policy and management, is an expert in bioethics and public health law, including fairness and scarce resource allocation, research ethics, quarantine law, privacy and other issues regarding COVID-19. She has served as a senior advisor to the Chief Privacy Officer in the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Assistant Director for Bioethics and Privacy in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.

Olga Acosta Price, PhD, is director of the Center for Health and Health Care in Schools and an associate professor of prevention and community health. She can provide expertise on topics related to advancing school-community partnerships during the coronavirus outbreak and how they can work collaboratively to promote the social, emotional, behavioral health and academic needs of children, teens and their families in times of crisis.

Amanda Castel, MD, MPH, a professor of epidemiology, is an expert in infectious diseases and can talk about transmission, social distancing, contact tracing, surveillance, and other topics on COVID-19. She has served as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spent over a decade working with local and state health department and is board certified in both pediatrics and preventive medicine and public health.

David Michaels, PhD, is a professor of environmental and occupational health. An epidemiologist with extensive experience in research, regulatory and public policy, he can discuss how COVID-19 impacts workplace health and safety, and related policy issues. One of the nation’s leaders in workplace safety, he served as Assistant Secretary in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the Obama administration.

Melissa Perry, PhD, ScD, MHS, is chair of the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. She has conducted significant research on factors in occupational injury and disease, and can discuss the impact of the pandemic on workers at food service and fast food locations, meat-packing plants, construction sites, and agricultural operations, and interventions that can be used to protect them.

Patricia Pittman, PhD, is director of the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity. An expert in health workforce systems and innovation, Dr. Pittman can provide expertise on topics related to health workforce staffing and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as predictions on the impact of the pandemic on the healthcare system.

William Dietz, MD, PhD, is director of the Sumner M. Redstone Global Center for Prevention and Wellness. An expert on obesity and prevention, he can discuss the possible impact and connection of obesity and other pre-existing health conditions and COVID-19.

Wendy Ellis, DrPH, MPH, is director of the Center for Community Resilience. She is an expert on programs and policy initiatives public officials can use to address ACEs - adverse childhood experiences and adverse community environments. She can discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic relates to these ACEs, health disparities, children, and minority and low-income communities.

Anne Monroe, MD, MSPH, is an associate research professor of epidemiology. She can provide expertise on topics related to testing, transmission and public health response toward COVID-19.

Laura Guay, MD, is a research professor of epidemiology. She can speak to global topics related to the pandemic, including COVID-19 transmission, tracing and mitigation in Africa.

Susan Anenberg, PhD, is an associate professor of environmental and occupational health. She can provide expertise on the health implications of air pollution and climate change, how COVID-19 stay-at-home orders have impacted air pollution, from local to global scales.

Dan Goldberg, PHD, is a research scientist in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health. He can provide expertise on the impact of COVID-19 stay-at-home orders on air pollution and climate change using satellite data.