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Live podcast taping of “Why Should I Trust You?”

Tue

27

Join via Zoom

Date

October 27, 2026

Time

— CDT

Location

Holmes Lounge

Hybrid
Live podcast taping of "Why Should I Trust You?"

Join WashU Bursky School of Public Health for a live taping of the “Why Should I Trust You?” podcast and a candid conversation about one of the most consequential questions facing public health: what should we do when the next pandemic hits?

Six years out from the start of COVID-19, we place a panel of voices with diverging points of view into the middle of a hypothetical pandemic and ask them to make decisions in real time as the outbreak unfolds and the facts shift. They’ll confront choices about mitigation, interventions, and communication, armed with lessons from the past but facing the challenges of falling trust in public health and institutions. The conversation will surface some of the most contested decisions of the last pandemic as we confront how to balance safety with liberty in the next one.

The live podcast taping will be followed by an opportunity for audience discussion and Q&A.

Panelists

Nahid Bhadelia, MD, MALD
Nahid Bhadelia, MD, MALD
Founding Director, Boston University Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases
Dr. Nahid Bhadelia is the founding director of Boston University’s Center on Emerging Infectious Diseases and an infectious diseases physician. She served as Senior Policy Advisor for Global COVID-19 Response at the White House in 2022–2023. She also co-founded BEACON, an open-source outbreak surveillance network. At Boston Medical Center, she helped develop and led the Special Pathogens Unit, caring for patients with highly communicable diseases, including Ebola. Her work spans outbreak response, clinical research, diagnostics, infection control, and healthcare worker training. She serves on national and international advisory groups focused on microbial threats, emerging infections, and pandemic preparedness.
Jeffery W. Hutt
Jeffery W. Hutt
Political strategist; board member, Republican Liberty Caucus
Jeff Hutt is a Texas-based political consultant. He previously served as the National Field Director for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s independent presidential campaign. He helped organize for the MAHA movement, particularly its grassroots political efforts and support for state and local candidates. Jeff currently sits on the board of the National Republican Liberty Caucus and works on state and local campaigns for issues and candidates, across partisan divides.
Katherine Wells
Katherine Wells, DrPH, MPH
Director of Public Health, City of Lubbock, Texas
Katherine Wells, DrPH, MPH, directs Lubbock Public Health, where she has grown the department from 10 to 55 staff and built programs at the intersection of public health and health care. She serves as a board member of the National Association of County & City Health Officials, chairs the State of Texas's Public Health Funding and Policy Committee, and is an adjunct assistant professor at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She earned her DrPH from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
David Zweig
David Zweig
Author, journalist
David Zweig is a journalist and author. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, and Wired, among many other outlets. He has testified twice before Congress as an expert witness regarding pandemic policies, and his journalism has been cited in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court. His latest book is "An Abundance of Caution."