The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 upturned lives across the globe, and anyone who did not already understand the importance of public health learned about it quickly.
Dr. Mara Jana Broadhurst, director of the U.S. Region 7 Emerging Pathogens Laboratory & Nebraska Biocontainment Unit Laboratory at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC), didn’t need the reminder. She had experienced the consequences of unchecked infectious disease in a big way as the Partners In Health diagnostic lead during the 2014-2016 Ebola virus outbreak in West Africa.
Ebola drove her down the path to her current specialty in infectious diseases, but her interest in medicine began while earning a bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Oregon. Dr. Broadhurst’s first experience with community health was working with a women’s health organization to promote health advocacy and education in India.
"It opened my eyes to the need to translate science to inform community-based programs," she said. "And that got me on the M.D., Ph.D. track."
She went on to earn her dual doctorates at the University of California San Francisco, followed by Clinical Pathology residency and Microbiology fellowship training at Stanford. All of this education and experience ultimately led Dr. Broadhurst to her current roles as director of the Biocontainment Unit and Emerging Pathogens Laboratories in 2019.
"We sit at the intersection of diagnostics development and rapid response for emerging infectious diseases," she said. "All of our processes are carried out at the highest level of quality, which allows us to establish gold-standard testing methods and support clinical trials, and it positions us to flip the switch and provide clinical and public health testing when it’s needed."
Dr. Sixto M. Leal Jr., Jay M. McDonald Endowed Professor in Experimental Pathology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, believes her current position is a perfect fit.
"I was elated to learn she made the right choice to start her career at Nebraska, uniquely positioning her at the forefront of the Nation’s domestic response to hemorrhagic fever viruses and other devastating emerging pathogens," he said. "Her exceptional leadership skills have shone through in high-pressure, public health environments, such as during the Ebola and COVID-19 pandemics, and she possesses a proven ability to develop and implement diagnostic technologies for emerging pathogens, showing her adaptability and innovation."
Dr. Broadhurst and the lab demonstrated their capabilities during the 2020 outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 — the virus behind COVID-19. In addition to treating some of the first U.S. patients, they developed novel, rapid diagnostic tests and were one of the first to implement mass testing and wastewater monitoring to track the disease’s movement through communities.
The pandemic reinforced Dr. Broadhurst’s belief that establishing trust with the community is essential — something she learned firsthand in West Africa.
"During my experience developing novel diagnostic tests for Ebola in West Africa, there was a ubiquitous challenge of translating medical and public health interventions to really impact the community," she said. "If patients aren’t willing to present to those healthcare facilities to be tested, then all the effort and investment goes to waste."
COVID also showed first hand how a major outbreak can have significant consequences even for those who don’t get sick — major economic disruption, for example.
"The pathogens don’t respect borders," Dr. Broadhurst said. "We experience them holistically as a society, and the effects go far beyond direct health impact to infected individuals. If we are not intervening effectively where there is the highest risk, our entire society feels the effects."
Dr. Broadhurst said much of her team’s accomplishment during COVID was thanks to unique advantages offered by UNMC and the University of Nebraska System.
"I moved here just before the pandemic,” she said. “I knew Nebraska housed the national quarantine center and the largest biocontainment unit in the country. What I hadn’t anticipated was what a rich opportunity it was going to be in terms of the diversity of community partners, including partners in urban Omaha, public schools and essential workforces, and diverse communities outside of Omaha, including those engaged in agricultural work and those who are a part of tribal communities.
"Something that really makes UNMC special is how trusted they are in the community. You can go anywhere in Nebraska, and just about any person you meet has been impacted by UNMC."
Dr. Broadhurst also worked with the National Strategic Research Institute (NSRI) at the University of Nebraska to develop novel diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2. The direct and mission-focused work through the DOD is exactly what she was looking for.
"Something I really appreciate about NSRI is the clarity of mission and purpose toward applied science," she said.
Dr. Broadhurst also serves as a scholar for the Global Center for Health Security. In this role, she is uniquely positioned to lead innovations in biocontainment clinical care and infection control, and enjoys an excellent perspective on what’s required to develop effective tools.
"What’s really fun is that my roles position me to lead investigator-initiated research to develop novel diagnostic tools and study risk for emerging infections in the community, then apply those tools and strategies to strengthen clinical and public health response," she said.
Despite her already incredibly impactful accomplishments, Dr. Broadhurst is looking to the future. She is confronting the deep need to strengthen the Nation’s ability to respond to future outbreaks.
"We’re seeing novel and reemerging infectious diseases impacting every facet of society," she said. "We have a very clear need for tools that are positioned for scalability, that are resilient to disruptions such as supply chain shortages, that can be standardized across care facilities and that increase access outside of conventional healthcare services."
In the future, it is critical to be able to quickly identify and respond to outbreaks of novel and high-consequence infectious diseases. Thankfully, exceptionally experienced experts like Dr. Broadhurst and her colleagues, are prepared to respond to the next threat.
