Days, Not Years: Reimagining Vaccine Development with Richard J. Hatchett, MD

What will it take to better prepare the world for the next pandemic, and why are vaccine equity and disease surveillance critical to that effort? In this episode of the Infectious IDeas podcast, NFID CEO Rebecca Alvania, PhD, MA, MPH, and NFID Medical Director Robert H. Hopkins, Jr., MD, have a candid conversation with Richard J. Hatchett, MD, CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) and recipient of the 2026 NFID Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter Humanitarian Award. He shares his thoughts on the 100 Days Mission, the lessons of Ebola epidemic, and why he sees pandemic preparedness as a matter of conscience as much as science.  

Hatchett traces an unlikely path from a medical residency during the early years of the AIDS epidemic, to Ebola fieldwork in Gabon, to volunteering at Ground Zero after September 11 — the same instinct, he says, that later led him to help found CEPI in response to the West African Ebola epidemic. He discusses the current Bundibugyo virus outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda, the chronic underfunding of disease surveillance, and why he considers CEPI's commitment to equitable vaccine access more significant than any of his own technical contributions. 

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