Dr. Monica H. Green and Dr. Michael Osterholm will engage in a captivating discussion about the impacts of historical pandemics — from the Black Death to the 1918 Influenza to COVID-19 — while offering insights into how we can better respond to the next global infectious disease outbreak. Michelle Hamilton, the director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Premodern Studies will moderate the conversation.

Please register to attend in person or to join us online.

About the speakers

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH. (Photo/Stuart Islett)

Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota.

In November 2020, Dr. Osterholm was appointed to President-elect Joe Biden’s COVID-19 transition advisory board. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State. He is also on the Luther College Board of Regents. He is the author of two New York Times best-selling books.

Monica H. Green, PhD

Monica H. Green, PhD, is an independent scholar and author whose work focuses on Medieval era pandemic diseases and women’s health. She is a prolific author of academic articles. Her books include “The Black Death: A Global History” (forthcoming), “New Evidence for the Dating and Impact of the Black Death in Asia” (2022), “Making Women’s Medicine Masculine: The Rise of Male Authority in Pre-Modern Gynaecology” (2008), and “Women’s Healthcare in the Medieval West: Texts and Contexts” (2000).

Michelle Hamilton, PhD, is Director of Premodern Studies and Professor of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities where she offers courses on religious studies, Jewish studies, and Spanish literature and culture. She is also the Editor of La corónica: A journal of Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. She has published widely on multi-confessional Iberia. Publications include: Islam and the Arabs in Spanish Scholarship (16th Century to the Present) (Harvard 2021);  The Study of al-Andalus: The Scholarship and Legacy of James T. Monroe  (Harvard 2018); Beyond Faith: Belief, Morality and Memory in a Fifteenth-Century Judeo-Iberian Manuscript (Brill 2014) and In and Of the Mediterranean: Medieval and Early Modern Iberian Studies (Vanderbilt 2014).

Event details

What: From the Black Death to COVID: Pandemic Lessons Learned
When: Wednesday, April 16, 2025, 7-9 p.m.
Where: Humphrey School of Public Affairs, Cowles Auditorium (parking and directions) and ONLINE

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Premodern Studies.