Nahid Bhadelia

Nahid Bhadelia is an infectious-disease physician and founding director of Boston Medical Center's Special Pathogens Unit, which she ran for approximately a decade — one of the few Level 4 biocontainment clinical units in the United States. She deployed to West Africa four times during the 2014-16 Ebola outbreak, working first with WHO and then with Partners in Health at treatment units in Sierra Leone. Her clinical and research focus is viral haemorrhagic fevers and the systems required to manage high-consequence pathogens in under-resourced settings.

In May 2026, Bhadelia is leading a University of Texas infectious-disease consult line established in coordination with the Texas state health department specifically to support the 2026 FIFA World Cup period. With DR Congo scheduled to play in Houston from 17 June and Texas health departments managing the 17-county regional reference laboratory that already holds the BioFire Global Fever Special Pathogens Panel for Bundibugyo diagnosis, her consult line is the clinical decision-support layer between local emergency departments and the absence of a named federal CDC coordination partner.

On 15 May 2026, Bhadelia joined the infectious-disease specialist panel discussing the Bundibugyo PHEIC and identified PALM-trial ribavirin as the only cross-Ebola candidate therapeutic worth attempting where hepatic function monitoring is available, noting the absence of any approved Bundibugyo-specific therapy. Her assessment that supportive care — IV fluids, electrolyte correction, isolation — represents the entire Ituri treatment toolkit is consistent with the WHO technical assessment and underscores the significance of the medical-countermeasures gap.