Dr. Syra Madad - Senior Director, System-wide Special Pathogens Program, NYC Health + Hospitals

Dr. Syra Madad, DHSc, MSc, MCP is the Senior Director of the System-wide Special Pathogens Program, and Co-Principal Investigator at the Institute of Disaster and Disaster Management, at NYC Health + Hospitals ( https://www.nychealthandhospitals.org/institute-for-disease-and-disaster-management/the-team/ ). Her work focuses on the preparedness for, response to and recovery from infectious disease outbreaks with an emphasis on healthcare and public health biopreparedness.

Dr. Madad built NYC Health + Hospitals special pathogens program from the ground up, maintaining readiness for the nation’s largest municipal healthcare delivery system for all infectious disease threats through ongoing training, education, drills, developing protocols, and processes and more. She’s responded to multiple infectious disease outbreaks as an infectious disease epidemiologist including Ebola, Measles and Zika.

In addition, Dr. Madad is a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs ( https://www.belfercenter.org/person/syra-madad ) where she regularly publishes on the latest public health guidance, epidemiological concepts and scientific literature to help the public understand complex topics using infographics and simplified science communication. She was prominently featured in the Netflix docuseries, Pandemic: How to Prevent an Outbreak ( https://www.netflix.com/title/81026143 ), and the Discovery Channel documentary, The Vaccine: Conquering COVID ( https://go.discovery.com/tv-shows/the-vaccine-conquering-covid/full-episodes/the-vaccine-conquering-covid ).

Dr. Madad received a B.S. in Psychology and a master's degree in Biotechnology with a concentration in Biodefense and Biosecurity, from the University of Maryland, College Park and then received an DHSc degree in health science with a concentration in Global Health from Nova Southeastern University. She holds numerous professional certifications, licenses and training certificates including Master Continuity Practitioner Certification (FEMA), Advanced Emergency Planning Certification, All Hazard Response (CBRNE) Training for Laboratory Personnel, Infection Control and Prevention Certification, Biosafety Level III Training, and Identification of the Primary Select Agents of Bioterrorism Training.