Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA, global director of ICAP, was consulted for an Nov 19 article in Columbia Public Health Magazine which reflected on the speed at which experts from all corners of the Mailman School mobilized to respond to COVID-19 as it swept the globe. Dr. El-Sadr was among the first to integrate research and care, in response to feedback from the community. That model became the precursor to groundbreaking interventions for HIV, and later TB and malaria and other public health priorities, that she and her team initiated in sub-Saharan Africa. As a result of her work El-Sadr received a MacArthur “genius” grant which positioned ICAP to be ready to further assist countries to respond to COVID-19. Dr. El Sadr says:
“When HIV spread like wildfire across the African continent, it took decades for the global community to mobilize a response. We certainly did not want such a delay in response to this new pandemic. In a passionate New England Journal of Medicine Perspective article about COVID-19, she wrote, “Epidemics know no borders, and success in controlling the epidemic in any one country will be limited if epidemics continue to rage elsewhere.”
