Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear
J. Stephen Morrison, Jacki Lyden, and Cathryn Streifel. "Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear." CSIS Commission on Strengthening America's Health Security, Center for Strategic and International Studies, April 22, 2016. Accessed December 21, 2023. https://healthsecurity.csis.org/articles/ebola-in-america-epidemic-of-fear/
”Ebola in America: Epidemic of Fear,” a CSIS Global Health Policy Center feature-length documentary executive produced and directed by CSIS Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security Secretariat Director J. Stephen Morrison, illuminates the effects of high-risk disease outbreaks abroad on domestic health security. The 2014 Ebola outbreak provoked panic in the United States, revealing weaknesses in both international and domestic outbreak preparedness and response.
”Ebola in America” is a groundbreaking feature-length documentary that tells the story of the 2014 Ebola outbreak’s effect on America as well as the public health and government response.
The documentary features those at the heart of the response, some speaking publicly for the first time. It features Dr. Kent Brantly, the first American to return to the United States to receive treatment for the disease, White House Ebola Czar Ron Klain, CDC director Tom Frieden and a host of others charged with dealing with Ebola in America.
“When Ebola arrived in America in 2014 it ignited the best and the worst in us, including fear, panic, stigma, confrontation, and confusion—and courage and leadership,” said J. Stephen Morrison. “We’ve tried to unpack this turbulence through the eyes of different key individuals on the front lines. Their story resonates today as we face Zika and the threat of infants born with brain damage.”
The documentary includes interviews with the following key personalities:
- Kent Brantly, Ebola survivor, doctor, served in Liberia with Samaritan’s Purse
- John Carlo, Dallas County Medical Society
- Helene Cooper, New York Times
- Anthony Fauci, National Institutes of Allergies and Infectious Diseases
- Thomas Frieden, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
- Gregg Gonsalves, Yale University Law School
- Kaci Hickox, Nurse, served with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone
- Ken Isaacs, Samaritan’s Purse
- Clay Jenkins, Dallas County Judge
- Ron Klain, White House Ebola Response Coordinator (2014-2015)
- Allison Liddell, Texas Health Presbyterian Dallas
- Suerie Moon, Harvard University
- Amy Pope, National Security Council
- J. Stephen Morrison, CSIS Global Health Policy Center
Video by Sam Ellis at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.