The Trump administration’s new global health strategy, released last month, lists its most important goal as outbreak prevention and response, both to protect Americans and to safeguard the economy.
Containing the Ebola outbreak in West Africa a decade ago cost the United States $5.4 billion globally and more than $70 million domestically, the strategy report notes, adding, “As we have unfortunately seen all too frequently, an outbreak anywhere in the world can quickly become a threat to Americans.”
Yet, the freeze on America’s foreign aid in January disrupted many programs that extinguished outbreaks. Citing “waste, fraud and abuse” at federal agencies, the administration also laid off thousands of scientists, including many who worked on preventing and containing infectious diseases.
Since the spring, the administration has restored some programs and rehired some scientists. And on Saturday, it rescinded the layoffs of hundreds of infectious disease experts fired in error just a day earlier.
But many others placed on administrative leave are still awaiting word on their next career steps.
The Department of Health and Human Services “has preserved the expertise necessary for pandemic preparedness, and our agency remains committed to infectious disease research, surveillance and response,” a spokesman said.
“We continue to support this critical public health priority through ongoing monitoring, vaccine development and partnerships at home and abroad,” he added.
But some experts worry that the loss of this particular kind of expertise leaves Americans vulnerable to new pandemic threats. “The diseases aren’t going away,” said Dr. Lorin Warnick, dean of Cornell’s College of Veterinary Medicine. “The risks are even higher now.”
We spoke with four well-regarded infectious disease scientists about their work, their lives now and the state of the nation’s pandemic preparedness.
Three years ago, Sarah Paige led a team at the U.S. Agency for International Development that helped to contain an Ebola outbreak in Uganda. Jobless since the collapse of the agency, Dr. Paige, 51, is now freelancing for a for-profit company reviewing research proposals, even as Ebola is again spreading in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“I just wanted to do something and have meetings, because in the afternoons I get so lonely,” she said recently.
Dr. Paige studies the links between people, the environment and diseases.
Early in her global health career, at Kibale National Park in Uganda, she saw baboons break into people’s kitchens and red colobus monkeys terrorize children and dogs. Witnessing the interactions, she was struck by the realization that diseases can jump from people to animals, not just the other way around.
Several years after completing a doctoral degree on those relationships, she applied to work at U.S.A.I.D. During the virtual job interview, agency officials unexpectedly asked her to turn on her camera. It was 9 p.m., and Dr. Paige appeared onscreen, mosquitoes and other insects swirling around her headlamp. She got the job.
In September 2022, she led the agency’s response to Ebola in Uganda, working closely with other American agencies. Dr. Wilberforce Owembabazi Ndyanabo, her colleague at the time, said she was particularly adept at “navigating the gymnastics” of quickly mobilizing people and funds.
