Dr. Prativa Baral is an infectious disease epidemiologist and faculty associate at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, specializing in global health policy, health systems resilience, and pandemic preparedness. Her research and policy contributions have shaped pandemic research and policy response strategies domestically and internationally across multiple governments and organizations, including the Canadian COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, WHO, World Bank, Gates Foundation and OpenAI. She is also the co-founder of Let Science Connect, a science communications social enterprise.

Dr. Baral is a sought-after speaker and expert panelist, frequently contributing to major domestic and global meetings, including at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting in Davos. She also regularly appeared on Canadian media during the pandemic, providing Canadians with practical and expert advice regarding COVID-19.  She holds a PhD from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, an MPH from Columbia University and a BSc from McGill University.