Pia MacDonald

Pia MacDonald has over two decades of experience in domestic and international epidemiological research and public health as well as an extensive background in infectious disease epidemiology and surveillance, global health security, public health preparedness, and outbreak investigation and response. In her current role, she leads projects focused on emerging infectious diseases and strengthening countries’ capacity to prevent, detect, and respond to disease outbreaks. Her career started as a CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer stationed in North Carolina and a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand. She is a Senior Director at RTI International as well as an adjunct associate professor in the Department of Epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has worked on many outbreak responses, including anthrax, Ebola, Zika, and now COVID-19. In addition to more than 70 journal articles, Dr. MacDonald published the book Methods in Field Epidemiology (2012). She speaks to the media (New York Times, Forbes, CNN, Kaiser Health News, Washington Post, NPR, Vox, NBC, CBS17, ABC11, Indy Star, iHeart Media, WRAL, Raleigh News & Observer, Chicago Tribune, Spectrum News, Sinclair Broadcasting, Associated Press) and diverse audiences ranging from teachers and lawyers, to infectious disease physicians, providing an epidemiological perspective to acute public health emergencies, outbreaks, and pandemics.