Dr. Gary Ridenour

Dr. Gary Ridenour is a physician and pandemic preparedness expert who raised early alarms about the threat of an avian flu pandemic, warning that the H5N1 virus - with a roughly 60 percent fatality rate among those infected - was not a matter of if but when. As a guest on late-night radio, he cited the virus's massive reservoir in global bird populations, its ability to mutate, and signs of human-to-human transmission as evidence that a devastating pandemic was inevitable.