About the Authors

Christian L. Althaus studied biology at ETH Zurich, Switzerland, and obtained a PhD in theoretical biology at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. He is currently leading a research group in immunoepidemiology at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine at the University of Bern, Switzerland. His research focuses on better understanding how infectious diseases respond to changes in their environment. For example, he studies how changes in human behavior, vaccination, or drug treatment can affect the prevalence of various infections. In September 2014, Dr. Althaus published the first estimates of the basic reproduction number R₀ of EVD in Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. This study was of paramount importance in highlighting the lack in controlling the outbreak in Liberia, and was later confirmed by the World Health Organization and several other research groups. During the MERS-CoV outbreak in South Korea from May to July 2015, his research group provided real-time estimates of the reproduction number and published a timely study on the role of superspreading events for newly observed MERS-CoV clusters. More information about Dr. Althaus’ work can be found on his research group website (http://www.immuno-epidemiology.ch). He frequently uses Twitter (@c_althaus) to communicate his latest findings and engage in scientific discussions.

Daniel G. Bausch is an Associate Professor in the Department of Tropical Medicine at Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine and also serves as the Technical Lead for the Epidemic Clinical Management Team in the Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases Department of the World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. Dr. Bausch specializes in the research and control of emerging tropical viruses, with over 20 years’ experience in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and Asia combating viruses such as Ebola, Lassa, hantavirus, and SARS coronavirus. He has been extensively involved in the 2013–2016 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, working to organize and provide patient care, promote and conduct applied research on Ebola virus, develop guidelines and spur innovation on appropriate personal protective equipment, and advise on the use of experimental therapies and vaccines. Dr. Bausch is the Scientific Program Chair of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. He places a strong emphasis on capacity building in all his projects and also has a keen interest in the role of the scientist in promoting health and human rights.

Adia Benton is an assistant professor of anthropology and African studies at Northwestern University. A social anthropologist who studies the political economy and moral worlds of biomedicine and public health, she writes about infectious diseases, global disparities in access to surgery, and the ideologies of global health and development aid. Her first book, HIV Exceptionalism: Development through Disease in Sierra Leone, was published by the University of Minnesota Press in 2015 and describes the global HIV/AIDS industry through a case study of HIV support groups in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Before becoming a professor, she worked as a consultant to numerous aid agencies on development and health throughout the world. She tweets about politics, anthropology, and popular culture from @ethnography911 and blogs anthropological “takes” on current events at http://ethnography911.org.

Michael J. Connor, Jr., MD, is an assistant professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, where he specializes in adult critical care medicine and nephrology. He is an internationally recognized expert in volume management and hemodynamic support in the critically ill, acute kidney injury, renal replacement therapy in the critically ill, and antibiotic therapy during renal replacement therapy. In September 2014, Dr. Connor spearheaded the first-ever application of advanced critical care support to a patient with Ebola virus disease that included the first known successful treatment with acute continuous hemodialysis and mechanical ventilation.

Kim Yi Dionne is assistant professor of government at Smith College. She studies health interventions, politics, and public opinion, primarily in African countries. She is also a co-contributing editor for Africa content at The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/). Her research has been published in Health Politics and Policy, World Development, and Comparative Political Studies, among other journals and edited volumes. She is on Twitter at @dadakim.

Nicholas G. Evans is an Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the University of Massachusetts Lowell. In 2015 he held an Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative Fellowship at the UPMC Center for Health Security and a postdoctoral fellowship in advanced biomedical ethics at the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy in the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, during which the bulk of the work for Ebola’s Message was completed. Dr. Evans conducts research on the security aspects of microbiology and infectious diseases, with a focus on dual-use virology research of concern. He has published work in bioethics in The Journal of Medical Ethics, mBio, Science and Engineering Ethics, and Law and Biosciences. He also maintains an active research program in military ethics; his first volume, The Routledge Handbook of Ethics and War, was released in 2013. He can be found on Twitter at @neva9257.

Morenike Oluwatoyin Folayan holds a fellowship at the West African College of Surgeons as well as a master of business administration. She works in the HIV prevention field building capacity to enable communities to engage effectively in HIV prevention research, and addressing the ethics of community engagement in research. She is currently an associate professor in the Department of Child Dental Health at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife; coordinates the Health Sciences and Professional Education Unit of the Institute of Public Health; and is the chair of the Research Innovation and Support Unit and the deputy director of the College of Health Sciences Research and Partnership Advancement Unit at Obafemi Awolowo University. She also coordinates the New HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Society.

Stephen Goldstein is a doctoral candidate in cell and molecular biology at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Susan R. Weiss. He is currently studying Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) accessory proteins and working to establish an in vitro model of bat coronavirus infection in the natural host. His interest in Ebola virus dates back to reading the Hot Zone in the late 1990s, and he has been deeply involved in online coverage and discussion of the West Africa Ebola virus epidemic. Previously, he received a BA in international affairs at George Washington University and an MS in molecular microbiology and immunology at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health in the laboratory of Diane E. Griffin, where he studied the innate immune response to alphavirus infection of neurons. When not doing research, he is most likely to be found skiing in Vermont, British Columbia, or Colorado. He can be found tweeting about both viruses and skiing @stgoldst.

Bridget Haire is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Australia, and president of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, the federation for the community-based response to HIV in Australia. She has published in the areas of research ethics, public health, and human rights, particularly with regard to HIV and other bloodborne infections, sexual health, and Ebola. Her academic work has included lecturing in public health and medical ethics at UNSW, and bioethics and medical humanities at the University of Sydney. Bridget has a strong commitment to community-based responses and has worked in HIV and sexual and reproductive health for 21 years as a journalist, editor, policy analyst, and advocate. She is a consultant for the Australia-China Human Rights Technical Cooperation Program on sexual and reproductive health rights for the Australian Human Rights Commission and serves on the Global Emerging Pathogens consortium and the New South Wales Assessment Panel for the Management of People with HIV Who Risk Infecting Others. She was the medical ethicist on the Data Safety Monitoring Board for the South African HIV prevention study CAPRISA 008. She holds a masters of bioethics and a PhD in standards of care in HIV prevention research.

Patricia C. Henwood, MD, is an Instructor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and works clinically as an emergency physician with a focus on point-of-care ultrasound training and research in the emergency, developing world, and disaster contexts. Dr. Henwood worked clinically in two Ebola treatment units in Liberia during the Ebola epidemic in 2014 and 2015. She is now involved in post-Ebola health system strengthening efforts in Liberia. Dr. Henwood has worked in the global health arena for more than a decade, and in 2011 she co-founded Point-of-care Ultrasound in Resource-limited Environments (PURE; www.pureultrasound.org). PURE is dedicated to enhancing ultrasound use, training, and research in resource-limited settings. PURE currently runs ultrasound training programs at national referral hospitals in Liberia, Uganda, and Rwanda. Dr. Henwood serves as PURE’s president and has received numerous grants and awards for her research and training in this area. Dr. Henwood attended Georgetown University and Jefferson Medical College. She completed her medical training at the Harvard-affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency at Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she served as chief resident. She completed a fellowship in emergency ultrasound at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, where she currently works as an attending emergency medicine physician.

Kelly Hills is a science writer and editor currently living and working in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Prior to this detour, Kelly was a doctoral student in a now-defunct joint degree program in bioethics and philosophy. During that time, she was an in-demand blogger for several bioethics-focused websites. Kelly relocated to the East Coast from Seattle, where she completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Washington in the program on Comparative History of Ideas and the Department of Medical History and Ethics, which means she’s excellent at Trivial Pursuit and prone to bouts of Continental philosophy when tired. She’s apparently supposed to note that she was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa while there, and graduated with honors and confetti. She also wrote a popular weekly column on bioethics and pop culture; one of the best compliments she ever received was having an article used as a dartboard by an angry pharmacy school. Back in ancient history, Kelly worked in the software industry as a test engineer, where she was known for being able to break anything inside 15 minutes. Kelly’s current areas of interest include power and harassment, accountability in biosecurity, biosafety, trust, and sneaking back into graduate school. She lives in a run-down Victorian house with her three cats (Toledo, Overlord Zeus, and Princess Harley); her international partner in crime (also known as “her husband”); and, in the summer, swarms of fireflies, all of whom are named Kaylee. You can find Kelly on social media at @rocza, or occasionally blogging at http://www.kellyhills.com/blog.

Cyril Ibe, a Nigerian-born journalist, has been teaching journalism and digital media at Central State University, Wilberforce, Ohio, since 2006. Ibe is digital content producer for the National Association of African Journalists, a U.S.-based organization of African-born journalists in the diaspora. He was co-founder and managing editor of the now-defunct Chicago-based African Newbreed. He has worked as a staff writer for Pioneer Press Newspapers in Chicago and as a general assignment intern reporter at the Cincinnati Enquirer and former Pittsburgh Press. Ibe has contributed to several other print and online publications, including the Dayton Weekly News and All Digitocracy. Ibe was host and executive producer of Miami Valley Journal, an hour-long public affairs program on the Central State University public radio station. He has been an invited facilitator of college radio workshops for multimedia journalism classes at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania. Ibe also taught as an adjunct professor of media studies at Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio, and was an adjunct professor of communications, media arts, and theater at Chicago State University in 2000 and a 1999 fellow in the Pew Charitable Trusts’ International Reporting Project. Ibe earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Central State University and a master’s degree in journalism from Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. Ibe is a doctoral student in health sciences (global health educator/researcher) at Trident University in Cypress, California. Follow him on Twitter @cyrilibe.

Marjorie Kruvand, PhD, is an associate professor and director of the masters in science in Global Strategic Communication program at the School of Communication at Loyola University Chicago. Previously, she was a senior vice president and partner specializing in health and science communication at FleishmanHillard, one of the world’s leading communication agencies; a science and environmental reporter at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch; and a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. She received her PhD from the Missouri School of Journalism at the University of Missouri. Her research focuses on health and science communication, including mass communication of bioethical issues and the dynamics between public relations professionals and journalists.

Lisa M. Lee, PhD, MA, MS, is the executive director of the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Lee, who has a PhD from Johns Hopkins University, an MA in educational psychology from the University of Colorado-Denver, and an MS in bioethics from Alden March Bioethics Institute at Albany Medical College, is an epidemiologist and public health ethicist. The focus of Lee’s current work is bioethics pedagogy and public health ethics. Her prior work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) included the ethics of public health surveillance, privacy and public health data use, and infectious disease epidemiology. During her 14-year career at CDC, she held several leadership positions, including serving as the agency’s assistant science officer and director of the Office of Scientific Integrity. Lee is the lead editor of Principles and Practice of Public Health Surveillance, 3rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2010). She has authored numerous publications in both science and ethics and serves as associate editor for the Journal of Bioethical Inquiry and Public Health Reviews. Dr. Lee serves on the Executive Board of Association for Practical and Professional Ethics and is an adjunct professor at the Center for Biomedical Ethics Education and Research at Albany Medical College, where she teaches ethics. She is the recipient of the 2014 Pellegrino Medal for excellence in bioethics.

Maimuna (Maia) S. Majumder is an engineering systems PhD student at MIT and computational epidemiology research fellow at HealthMap. Before coming to MIT, she earned a bachelor of science in engineering science and a masters of public health in epidemiology and biostatistics at Tufts University. Her research interests involve probabilistic modeling, Bayesian statistics, and “systems epidemiology” in the context of emerging infectious diseases. She also enjoys exploring novel techniques for data procurement, writing about data for the general public, and creating meaningful data visualizations. She’s on Twitter at @maiamajumder.

Alexandra L. Phelan (Twitter: @alexandraphelan) is an adjunct professor in law, doctor of juridical science candidate, and Sir John Monash Scholar at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC. Ms. Phelan’s doctoral research examines the global law and governance of infectious diseases, including issues of international law, human rights, and global health security. Ms. Phelan holds a master of laws (with merit) from the Australian National University (Canberra, Australia) specializing in international law, and a bachelor of biomedical science/bachelor of laws (with honors) double degree from Monash University (Melbourne, Australia), specializing in international law and health human rights in her legal studies and infectious diseases in her biomedical science studies. Ms. Phelan previously worked as a solicitor at the global law firm King & Wood Mallesons, and has consulted for the World Health Organization and in the legal division at Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. She is an associate fellow of the Royal Commonwealth Society, 2015 Emerging Leader in Biosecurity Initiative Fellow, Next-Generation Global Health Security Leader, and previously served as a director on Monash University’s board of directors, University Council.

Annette Rid is a senior lecturer in Bioethics and Society at the Department of Social Science, Health, and Medicine at King’s College London. Trained in medicine, philosophy, and bioethics in Germany, Switzerland, and the US, Annette’s research interests span issues in research ethics, clinical ethics, and justice in health and health care. Annette has published widely in medical journals (e.g., Lancet, JAMA) and bioethics journals (e.g., Journal of Medical Ethics, Hastings Center Report). She has served as an advisor, among others, for the World Health Organization, the World Medical Association, and the Council of International Organizations of Medical Sciences. At King’s, Annette has led the new master’s degree program in bioethics and society as one of its inaugural co-directors. For more information, please see www.kcl.ac.uk/sshm and follow @anetrid on Twitter.

Cristine Russell is an award-winning journalist and educator who has written about science, public health, medicine, and the environment for more than three decades. She is a senior fellow at Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and an adjunct lecturer in public policy focusing on the media, climate, and energy. Russell, a former Washington Post national science and health reporter, is a freelance science writer, Columbia Journalism Review contributing editor, and contributor to publications such as Scientific American and the Atlantic online. Her work often addresses controversial issues at the intersection of science and public policy. Russell is a past president of two major American science-writing organizations: the National Association of Science Writers and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing, and is co-chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2017 World Conference of Science Journalists in San Francisco. She has led efforts to improve media coverage and communication about global science to the general public and has also worked to promote leadership opportunities for women in science and journalism. Russell is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and chair of the AAAS Section on General Interest in Science and Engineering. She is on the Commonwealth Fund board and has served on numerous other boards in journalism and education. Russell is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate in biology from Mills College. She can be found on Twitter at @russellcris.

Lara Schwarz studied Environment concentrating in Ecological Determinants of Health at McGill University. Her research interests include the social and environmental influences of infectious diseases. She first starting working on Ebola virus disease during the 2014 West Africa epidemic when she collaborated with Dr Bausch to write about it while he was working on the ground in Guinea. Lara now works as a Technical Officer in The Department of Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases at the World Health Organization, and continues to be involved with projects concerning Ebola and other zoonotic viruses.

Laura Seay is assistant professor of government at Colby College. Her research centers on questions at the intersection of conflict and development and the provision of public goods by non-state actors in Africa’s fragile states. Her recent and current projects include a study of non-state actors and state reconstruction programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo, an evaluation of a World Bank-financed pilot program designed to improve use of clinical health care and maternal and child mortality rates in Nigeria, and a book project on the effects of American advocacy movements on U.S. policy in six African states. Seay serves on the executive board of the African Politics Conference Group and is co-contributing editor for Africa content at The Monkey Cage, a blog on politics and political science at the Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/). Her work has been published in the Review of African Political Economy, Perspectives on Politics, and several edited volumes.

Michael J. Selgelid is director of Monash University’s Centre for Human Bioethics and the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for Bioethics therein, and an adjunct professor in the School of Public Health and Preventative Medicine. He additionally holds an appointment as Monash-Warwick Honorary Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Warwick (UK). His main research focus is public health ethics, with emphasis on ethical issues associated with biotechnology and infectious disease. He has well over 100 publications in bioethics. He co-authored Ethical and Philosophical Consideration of the Dual-Use Dilemma in the Biological Sciences (Springer, 2008) and co-edited On The Dual Uses of Science and Ethics: Principles, Practices, and Prospects (ANU Press, 2013); Ethics and Security Aspects of Infectious Disease Control: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (Ashgate, 2012); Emergency Ethics (Ashgate, 2012); Infectious Disease Ethics (Springer, 2011); Health Rights (Ashgate, 2010); and Ethics and Infectious Disease (Blackwell, 2006). Michael earned a BS in biomedical engineering from Duke University and a PhD in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego, under the supervision of Philip Kitcher.

Tara C. Smith is an associate professor of epidemiology at Kent State University in Ohio. Dr. Smith’s research focuses on zoonotic infections (infections that are transferred between animals and humans, such as Ebola). Her work has been profiled in many major publications, including Science, Nature, and The New York Times. Dr. Smith is also very active in science communication and outreach. She has maintained a science blog for 10 years and has written books on group A streptococcus, group B streptococcus, and Ebola. She also writes about infectious disease for Slate, Mic, and other sites. Find her on Twitter at @aetiology.

Armand Sprecher is an emergency physician and epidemiologist who has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières since 1997. He has been involved with filovirus outbreak response since 2000, including working in the field during the outbreaks in Uganda in 2000, Angola in 2005, the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2007, and the outbreak in West Africa. Between outbreaks, aside from filovirus disease issues, Armand works mostly on health informatics. Armand has also worked with the International Medical Corps and the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service.