Elizabeth Pisani

Explorer

I'm an epidemiologist specialising in the politically messy parts of public health, especially in middle income countries. When HIV became too mainstream, I shifted to looking at substandard and falsified medicines, and in particular at the way efforts to increase access to medicines may be undermining their quality. Political posturing, economic interests and plain old corruption on the part of governments, NGOs and medics make this a pretty interesting area. Occasionally, I take time off the day job to write books, most recently about Indonesia, a country that has captivated and infuriated me for over two decades. Or, earlier, about the grubby realities of the HIV industry (The Wisdom of Wh*res: Note from TED, when I tried to enter the full title: "The text that you have entered is deemed offensive and cannot be saved". Sigh) I work as an independent researcher (currently funded by The Wellcome Trust, thank you), though I have honorary professorships etc. at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, King's College London and Erasmus University, Rotterdam. I have an MA in classical Chinese from Oxford, an MSc in Medical Demography from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and a PhD in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, also from LSHTM. Before I became a scientist, I was a journalist for Reuters and The Economist. I reported on stock market crashes and revolutions, and had the dubious privilege of witnessing Chinese troops roll in to Tiananmen Square in 1989. I've lived in Western Europe (Germany, Spain, France, the UK, Belgium and Ireland), Asia (Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Vietnam, China) and East Africa (Kenya). I can flirt in a bar and bribe a policeman in several languages.

Common sense, serendipity, Cote Rotie, jamon jabugo

It's not enough to give sick people access to medicines. They need access to medicines that actually work.

Addiction, Corruption, Global Health, HIV, Indonesia, Nation Building, Public Health, sea kayaking, Sex

I'm fascinated by the TED phenomenon and try to support it as best I can; besides speaking at TED and TED Global I've both spoken at TEDx events and MC'ed them. It's a great way to meet interesting and talented people. For example, check out Femi Nylander rapping on Global Health at TEDx LSHTM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDwdbbmsizw