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Ebola has become a worldwide crisis that has now reached into the United States.

Today at 12:30 p.m., four experts will discuss the virus that has made headlines since the first case was documented in March. They will look at the reasons that one case in Guinea has sparked the world's largest outbreak, and how healthcare systems and humanitarian groups need to respond to help the affected countries and prevent further spread.

The participants are:

David Heymann, former WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Security and Environment and now head of the Centre on Global Health Security at Chatham House, The Royal Institute of International Affairs. Dr. Heymann investigated the first (1976) and second (1977) Ebola outbreaks and directed the international response to the 1995 outbreak in Kikwit, a town in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Michael VanRooyen, director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative and vice chairman of Brigham and Women's Hospital Department of Emergency Medicine.

, a research scientist studying the Ebola virus genome. He is on staff at Harvard University and Broad Institute.

Barry Bloom, former dean of the Harvard School of Public Health and now a professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases.

The panel moderator will be Joe Neel, deputy senior supervising editor and a correspondent on the Science Desk at NPR.

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