Tara Barsotti

Tara Barsotti is a graduate student in the Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases program at Georgetown. As an intern with the Department of State Office of Cooperative Threat Reduction’s Biosecurity Engagement Program, she has assisted senior-level officials with programming for international health capacity building. Tara also worked part-time at a Department of Defense Information Analysis Center (HDIAC) as a scientific analyst answering technical inquiries related to the fields of medicine, WMD, and CBRN Defense. 

Tara graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas with degrees in Biology and Political Science. As an undergraduate, Tara promoted influenza vaccinations resulting in a 341% increase in vaccines administered at a free shot clinic on her college campus. Tara has conducted laboratory research on C. difficile to better understand the timing of toxin production. As an intern with the Arkansas Department of Health Office of Health Communications, Tara conducted a statewide survey and focus groups on Arkansans’ knowledge of the opioid epidemic.

She is passionate about pandemic preparedness and is working with Dr. Erin Sorrell on COVID-19 response efforts