On behalf of The Rockefeller Foundation, I applaud the appointment of Dr. Ashish K. Jha, Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, and thank his predecessor, Jeffrey Zients, for his incredible service over the last 14 months. At a critical stage of the pandemic, Jeff helped build a historic emergency response infrastructure that has delivered hundreds of millions of vaccines, treatments, tests, and more to the American people.
Ashish is the right choice to take over this role. Through his leadership at Brown’s School of Public Health and his partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation, Ashish has helped build trust and increase coverage of Covid-19 vaccines in BIPOC communities, and address operational challenges facing Covid-19 response teams in dozens of states. He is also a dear friend and colleague, and I’m personally grateful for his and his family’s willingness to serve at this important time.
From the beginning of the pandemic, the Foundation has collaborated on the response with officials at the federal, state, and community levels. Just as we have worked closely with Jeff and his colleagues since early 2021, we look forward to continuing that partnership with Ashish and his team.
Image via The New York Times.