Dean grew up in rural Oregon and became interested in becoming a doctor and studying infectious disease as a young child.
[3] As a public health official in Santa Barbara County, Dean gained experience with containment of infectious disease outbreaks, including meningitis in 2013[4] and tuberculosis in 2014.
[4][8] In January 2020, she began to warn state officials about COVID-19,[9] based on reports from China,[10][11] and continued for months.
[12][13] Her work included coordination with elected officials and the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
[18] She is one of the experts profiled in the book,[5][10] and named by Lewis as "one of the people who saw the real danger of the virus before the rest of the country did," according to NPR.