Elizabeth Pisani, epidemiologist and reporter, will present a public talk at the Woodrow Wilson School titled "The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS," at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, December 3, in Bowl 016, Robertson Hall, on the Princeton University campus.

Pisani joined Reuter’s news agency as a graduate trainee, and was posted in Hong Kong, New Delhi and Jakarta covering major stories in the region, notably the entry of Chinese troops into Tiananmen Square to quell protest on June 4th 1989.  She was also Indonesia Correspondent for The Economist newspaper.
 
In the mid-1990s, Pisani worked the Asia Times newspaper, as Bureau Chief for Indochina. The Bangkok-based paper provided an opportunity to cover business in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and eventually in Brussels.

Pisani has provided research, analysis, and policy advice to the World Bank, the World Health Organization, and the Centers for Disease Control, and other organizations; and to the Ministries of Health of China, Indonesia, East Timor, and the Philippines
 
Pisani is the author of the book, “The Wisdom of Whores: Bureaucrats, Brothels and the Business of AIDS” which is about sex, drugs and the AIDS industry.

Pisani did a Master’s of Science in medical demography, and by the late 1990s she was based in Kenya and working with the World Health Organization, UNAIDS and others, trying to improve our understanding of the HIV epidemic and prompt an appropriate response. She earned her Ph.D. in infectious disease epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical medicine.

This event is co-sponsored by the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, the Gender and Policy Network, the Center for Health and Wellbeing’s Grand Challenges Initiative, and the Princeton AIDS Initiative. It is free and open to the public.