Michael T. Osterholm, Ph.D., is Regents Professor and McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, as well as the Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota. From June 2018 to May 2019, he served as Science Envoy for Health Security for the U.S. Department of State.

Osterholm authored Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs (2017), where he outlines major infectious disease threats and proposes a nine-point strategy to combat them, with pandemic flu prevention as a key focus.

He also served as Special Advisor on bioterrorism and public health preparedness to HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson (2001–2005), and spent 24 years at the Minnesota Department of Health, where he was State Epidemiologist and led the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section for 15 years.