The White House Covid-19 Response team established by President Joe Biden includes Nahid Bhadelia, an Indian American, as the Senior Policy Advisor

US President Joe Biden recently selected Nahid Bhadelia, an Indian-American infectious diseases physician, as the Senior Policy Advisor for the Global COVID Response team. She is now on sabbatical from her full-time post as an Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases at the Boston University School of Medicine. The response team was established by Biden to strategically address the Covid-19 outbreak in the US. Currently, the team is led by Dr Ashish Jha, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator. He is also on short-term leave from his position as dean of the Brown University School of Public Health. Bhadelia used Twitter to express her gratitude for appointing her and giving her the chance to cooperate with international allies and serve the country through a tweet.

Gloria Waters, Vice President and Associate Provost for Research at Boston University, praised Bhadelia's experience in international affairs, health and human security, and training in infectious diseases. Bhadelia is widely known as an international expert on highly communicable and emerging infectious diseases. Her extensive experience in health system response to newly emerging infectious diseases such as Ebola, Zika, and Covid-19 will make her a great addition to the White House team. She has immense clinical, field, academic, and policy experience, which provides invaluable insights into the fundamental obstacles of pandemic preparedness through her work.

Born in India and brought up in Sweden and Saudi Arabia, Bhadalia moved to the US as a teenager. She has extremely contributed to the health system's ability to manage infectious diseases that are renowned through her developments at Boston University. She founded the Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research (CEID) at Boston University and served as the associate director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL). She has also helped in launching and developing the Special Pathogens Unit at Boston Medical Centre, the university’s primary teaching hospital.

Under Bhadelia's leadership and guidance, the CEID has developed into a crucial centre for research and actionable policymaking. The centre has assisted in congressional hearings, advised legislative offices, created policy briefs, and contributed to pandemic preparation bills.

Additionally, Bhadelia has experience working in West and East Africa during several Ebola virus epidemics. She also co-directs the Boston University and the University of Liberia Emerging and Epidemic Virus Research Programs, which are supported by the Fogarty International Center and have assisted in the development of pandemic preparation strategies in Liberia and Uganda.