"Beyond the Headlines: A Scientist's View of Bird Flu": In-Person Badger Talk in Waupaca, WI

This is a free, in-person talk hosted on October 12, 2026 at 6:30 PM by Winchester Academy in Waupaca, WI. No registration required. This talk will not be available virtually.
Thomas Friedrich will summarize what we currently know about bird flu viruses circulating in dairy cattle and explain how virus jump species, and how scientists assess whether viruses pose a pandemic risk.
Thomas Friedrich grew up in Wauwatosa, WI idolizing Robin Yount and Carl Sagan. He always wanted to be a scientist of some kind, but he focused on physics before becoming interested in infectious diseases while reading Laurie Garrett’s The Coming Plague in college. Dr. Friedrich is now a professor of virology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he teaches students about global health, HIV/AIDS, and emerging infectious diseases. In his research, Dr. Friedrich works with teams of scientists to understand how viruses like influenza, SARS-CoV-2, and Zika jump species to spread and cause disease in humans.