Wilmot James is a Senior Research Scholar at the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP) at Columbia University. He conducts research on pandemic response and biosecurity, convenes high-level meetings on planetary threats, leads the Center for Pandemic Research at ISERP and is an Associate Director in the Program in Vaccine Education at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. With the Wellcome Trust’s Sir Jeremy Farrar, Wilmot co-chairs VacTask, an advisory body to African governments pursuing sustainable vaccine manufacturing on the continent. He co-convenes the Schmidt Futures supported Columbia-Witwatersrand Vaccine Safety and Confidence-Building (VacSafe) Working Group. Wilmot serves as a senior consultant in biosecurity to the Washington DC based Nuclear Threat Initiative Bio; and as a Special Advisor to the Africa-CDC/G7-led Global Partnership’s Signature Initiative on Biosecurity in Africa (SIBA). He is also an Honorary Professor of Public Health at the University of the Witwatersrand. Wilmot was previously a Member of Parliament (South Africa) and opposition spokesperson on health. He is the author and/or editor of 17 books that include the policy-oriented Vital Signs: Health Security in South Africa (2020) and a co-edited collection of Nelson Mandela’s presidential speeches Nelson Mandela In His Own Words (2003) given to the late President on his 85th birthday.
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