Nellie Bristol

Senior Associate (Non-resident), Global Health Policy Center
Nellie Bristol

Nellie Bristol is a senior associate with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center. She leads the Center’s work on efforts to repurpose polio eradication assets for long-term disease control and toward other global health priorities. In addition to an active working group convened to discuss eradication and transition as it relates to U.S. global health policy, she writes extensively on the issue and consults with other organizations focused on transition planning. She also writes about U.S. government relations with multilateral organizations, including the World Health Organization and the World Bank Group. Her major reports for CSIS include Catalyzing Health Gains through Global Polio Eradication, which focused on polio transition in India; Bolstering Public Health Capacities through Global Polio Eradication, which examined polio assets in Ethiopia; The Power of Straight Talk, which looked at the impact of the Independent Monitoring Board on eradication efforts. Bristol came to CSIS following a long career as a health policy journalist. She spent two decades writing about domestic health policy on Capitol Hill before expanding her coverage to global health in 2005. Bristol has written for top publications in the field including The Lancet, Health Affairs, and Congressional Quarterly, covering HIV/AIDS policy, foreign aid and national security, noncommunicable diseases, and efforts to combat maternal mortality. She holds a master’s degree in public health/global health from George Washington University.

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Innovation for Eradication

This report in our series on U.S. support for global polio eradication explores how ongoing research has allowed the eradication program to learn in real time, overcoming new obstacles and building a body of knowledge that can be applied to other global health campaigns.

Report by Nellie Bristol and Michaela Simoneau — July 2, 2020

A CDC scientist performs one of the last steps in a poliovirus testing process. | CDC/ Holly Patrick, MS, MPH/James Gathany

The U.S. Government and Antimicrobial Resistance

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a slow-moving epidemic that kills hundreds of thousands annually. The COVID-19 pandemic will worsen the problem. The U.S. government should take immediate action to mitigate the threat posed by AMR domestically and globally.

Report by Nellie Bristol — June 9, 2020

Photo: WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images

Ensuring Healthy Populations through a New Era of Global Immunization

As global immunization organizations craft new strategies for the next decade of their work, the CSIS Global Health Policy Center convened a day-long conference to discuss how to anticipate and overcome remaining challenges to equity, trust, and security.

Report by Nellie Bristol — December 20, 2019

Photo: MAMYRAEL/AFP via Getty Images

Securing Healthy Populations in a New Era of Global Immunization

The CSIS Global Health Policy Center will host a major conference on September 27 that will examine the innovations attempting to meet these demands and enhance global stability and health security in the next decade of global immunization.

Event by Nellie Bristol , J. Stephen Morrison , Katherine E. Bliss , Edna Yolani Batres , Seth Berkley , Nahid Bhadelia , Rina Dey , Henrietta Fore , and Amanda Glassman , Emilie Karafillakis , Rebecca Martin , Violaine Mitchell , Kate O'Brien , Muhammad Ali Pate , Kerry Pelzman , Congressman Adam B. Schiff , Anne Schuchat (RADM, USPHS, RET) , David Broniatowski , Senator Roger Wicker — September 27, 2019

Enhancing U.S. Leadership in a New Era of Global Immunization

U.S. government investments in global immunization increase global stability and prosperity and protect Americans from disease. As momentum in vaccine coverage has stalled, new approaches are needed to deliver health services to unreached populations.

Brief by Nellie Bristol , Michaela Simoneau , and Katherine E. Bliss — September 27, 2019

Photo: SEYLLOU/AFP/Getty Images

Orchestrating Global Polio Eradication

This sixth installment in our series on U.S. support for global polio eradication explores the evolution of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, discussing how its multi-layered governance model, while unwieldy at times, has proven the value of partnerships through its success.

Report by Nellie Bristol and Michaela Simoneau — September 26, 2019

Two Pakistani health workers arrive at a house to vaccinate children
Coronavirus Crisis Update

Rethinking Vaccine Delivery

We revisit our conversation from last winter with Dr. Orin Levine to discuss new innovations with vaccines to secure the health and stability of all populations.

Podcast Episode by Nellie Bristol — September 17, 2019

CSIS Coronavirus Crisis Update
Coronavirus Crisis Update

The New Landscape for Gavi 5.0

At the end of June, the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, approved their new “5.0” strategy for 2021-2025, with an ambitious set of priorities for this new phase.

Podcast Episode by Nellie Bristol and Katherine E. Bliss — August 20, 2019

CSIS Coronavirus Crisis Update

Polio Labs

This fifth installment in our series on U.S. support for global polio eradication discusses the role of the Global Polio Laboratory Network in providing the underlying evidence base for disease detection and identification, and as a model for other networks.

Report by Nellie Bristol and Michaela Simoneau — June 26, 2019

Dr. adding samples into vials