Prativa Baral

I'm an epidemiologist (PhD, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; MPH in Epidemiology, Columbia University) and Assistant Professor at McGill University's School of Population and Global Health, where I serve as Deputy Director of the Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab. My research focuses on pandemic preparedness, health systems resilience, outbreak response, mis and disinformation, and the role of AI in health emergencies. Over more than a decade, I have worked across the World Bank, World Health Organization, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OpenAI, the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board, the COVID-19 Immunity Task Force. I have published in journals including PLOS Medicine, PNAS, and the BMJ, and I am a 2025 Gairdner Foundation Early Career Investigator Awardee.