Ambassador Deborah L. Birx Appointed as Coronavirus Response Coordinator

The White House has appointed world-renowned global health official and physician Ambassador Deborah Birx to the Office of the Vice President to assist in the comprehensive government response to COVID-19 as the Coronavirus Response Coordinator. 

Ambassador-at-Large Deborah L. Birx, M.D., is the Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. Ambassador Birx is an internationally recognized medical expert and leader in the field of HIV/AIDS. Her career, spanning over three decades, has focused on HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, she oversees the implementation of the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which represents the most significant commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, as well as all U.S. Government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. As the U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy, she aligns U.S. Government diplomacy with foreign assistance programs to address global health challenges and accelerate progress toward achieving an AIDS-free generation, ending preventable child and maternal deaths, and preventing, detecting, and responding to infectious disease threats.

In 1985, Ambassador Birx began her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a military-trained clinician in immunology, concentrating on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. From 1985 to 1989, she served as an Assistant Chief of the Hospital Immunology Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Demonstrating professionalism and leadership, she advanced to become the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996 to 2005. During this time, Ambassador Birx played a pivotal role in leading one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history, RV 144 or the Thai trial, which provided the first evidence of a vaccine’s potential effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. She rose to the rank of Colonel and introduced a new model of cooperation among the Navy, Army, and Air Force, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Military’s HIV/AIDS efforts through inter- and intra-agency collaboration. As Colonel Birx, she was awarded two U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award for her groundbreaking research, leadership, and management contributions during her tenure at the DoD.

From 2005 to 2014, Ambassador Birx was the Director of the CDC’s Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), part of the agency’s Center for Global Health. She demonstrated exceptional leadership, technical skills, and infectious passion in this role, achieving significant public health impact. She led the global implementation of CDC’s PEPFAR programs and managed an annual budget exceeding $1.5 billion. Ambassador Birx oversaw all global HIV/AIDS activities of the agency, supervising more than 400 staff at headquarters, over 1,500 staff in the field, and more than 45 country and regional offices across Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America. Her commitment to building local capacity and enhancing quality laboratory health services and systems in Africa earned her a Lifetime Achievement Award from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine in 2011. In 2014, the CDC recognized her leadership in advancing the agency’s HIV/AIDS response with the William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence.

Ambassador Birx has authored over 220 manuscripts published in peer-reviewed journals, contributed to nearly a dozen chapters in scientific publications, and developed and patented vaccines. She earned her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University. She began training in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology 1980 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health. She is board-certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, and diagnostic and clinical laboratory immunology.