HOLD FOR STORY BY PHIL MARCELO Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, stands for a portrait, Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2020, in Newton, Mass. In another time, experts like Jha would have enjoyed the esteem, respect and relative obscurity afforded by academia. But for better or worse, COVID-19 thrust virologists, epidemiologists and other normally low-profile scientists into the pop culture crucible this year. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)