Michael Mina, MD, PhD

CHIEF SCIENCE OFFICER, EMED

Dr. Mina is the Chief Science Officer of eMed. Prior to eMed he was a professor of Epidemiology and of Immunology & Infectious Diseases at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He was also a professor in the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School and associate medical director of molecular virology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Mina’s research focused on how vaccines and infections impact how people’s immune systems respond to other infections, and how they impact the epidemiology and spread of infectious diseases, including outbreaks and pandemics. With colleagues at Princeton and the US National Institutes of Health he developed the idea of a Global Immunological Observatory that could serve as a “global weather system for viruses.” 

Dr. Mina’s research combines epidemiological and mathematical models, data science, software development, clinical studies, molecular engineering, and the building and development of novel high throughput tools for immunological profiling using phage display, sequencing and molecular engineering. 

Dr. Mina is one of the leading global experts regarding the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly around vaccines and testing. During the COVID pandemic his research shifted towards how testing can help limit spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Prior to coming to eMed, his research created much of the theory around how both PCR and rapid tests should be used in the context of a pandemic of a fast moving respiratory virus like SARS-CoV-2. In addition, he was instrumental in setting up some of the largest PCR testing laboratories in the nation, at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and quickly grew to prominence as a leading international authority on rapid antigen testing in the pandemic. Throughput the COVID-19 pandemic he has advised both White House administrations, the US Congress and Senate, many US states, corporations and numerous international governments about their testing and vaccine programs. 

Dr. Mina went to Dartmouth College for his undergraduate studies where he earned a bachelor’s degree in engineering and public health. He earned both his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees at Emory University. His Ph.D. was in vaccine immunology and infectious diseases modeling, which he performed across numerous institutions including Emory Vaccine Center and Emory’s Rollins School of Public Health, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases in South Africa. He performed his postdoctoral research in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases at Princeton University and in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School. His medical residency training was in clinical pathology at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA at Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Mina is the recipient of numerous national and institutional awards for his research, including a recipient of the prestigious NIH Director’s Early Independence Award. He was identified by the Economist Magazine as one of 8 Global Progress makers for his global health research and not-for-profit work helping bring clean water to rural areas of the world. He is on the board of directors or the scientific or medical advisory boards of numerous public and private companies.

Education

Dartmouth College, A.B. – Engineering and global health

Emory University, M.D., Ph.D. – Infectious Diseases, Immunology and Mathematics

Princeton University, Post-Doctoral Research – Mathematics of Infectious Diseases

Harvard University, Post-Doctoral Research – Genetics

Harvard Medical School / Brigham & Women’s Hospital – Clinical Pathology Residency