WEBVTT

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I want to lead here by talking
a little bit about my credentials

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to bring this up with you,

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because, quite honestly,

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you really, really should not listen
to any old person with an opinion

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about COVID-19.

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(Laughter)

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So I've been working in global health
for about 20 years,

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and my specific technical specialty
is in health systems

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and what happens when health systems
experience severe shocks.

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I've also worked
in global health journalism,

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I've written about
global health and biosecurity

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for newspapers and web outlets,

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and I published a book a few years back
about the major global health threats

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facing us as a planet.

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I have supported and led
epidemiology efforts

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that range from evaluating
Ebola treatment centers

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to looking at transmission
of tuberculosis in health facilities,

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and doing avian influenza preparedness.

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I have a Masters Degree
in International Health.

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I'm not a physician. I'm not a nurse.

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My specialty isn't patient care
or taking care of individual people.

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My specialty is looking at populations
and health systems:

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what happens when diseases
move on the large level.

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If we're ranking sources
of global health expertise

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on a scale of one to 10,

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one is some random person
ranting on Facebook

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and 10 is the World Health Organization,

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I'd say you can probably put me
at like a seven or an eight.

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So keep that in mind as I talk to you.