Prativa Baral, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Global and Public Health, has been chosen as one of five Gairdner Early Career Investigators from across Canada to present their research as part of Gairdner Science Week events from October 20-23.
The five investigators have been selected by the 2025 Canada Gairdner Award laureates. Prof. Baral was selected by André Briend, MD, PhD, winner of the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award.
Prof. Baral is an epidemiologist and a global health scholar committed to strengthening how societies prepare for and respond to crises. She is an Assistant Professor (Research) in the Department of Global and Public Health at McGill University and Deputy Director of the Pandemic and Emergency Readiness Lab (PERL), where she leads work on pandemic preparedness, misinformation, and health system resilience. She also holds a Faculty Associate role at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and co-founded Let Science Connect, an institute dedicated to training experts in science communication.
Prof. Baral’s research bridges evidence, policy, and practice. During COVID-19, she co-developed a rapid-cycle data framework to detect health system disruptions in real time, a tool now applied in over 30 countries. She also directed the Secretariat for the Royal Society of Canada and Canadian Academy of Health Sciences’ expert panel on Canada’s role in global health.
She has advised governments and international organizations including the UN, WHO, World Bank, Gates Foundation, and OpenAI, with a consistent focus on equity and communities most affected by instability and health shocks.
Prof. Baral will present “Faster, Smarter, Stronger: Building Health Systems Ready for the Next Emergency” during the Laureate Lectures on Thursday, October 23rd.
