Deborah L. Birx - Wikipedia
Deborah Leah Birx (born April 4, 1956) is an American physician and diplomat who serves as the coronavirus (COVID-19) response coordinator in the White House.[1]
Birx has served as Ambassador-at-Large and United States Global AIDS Coordinator since 2014. In this role she has been responsible for PEPFAR's US$6.6 billion program in 65 countries supporting HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programs.[2]
Early life and education [ edit ]
Birx majored in chemistry at Houghton College in 1976 and then earned her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine at Pennsylvania State University.[3] In 1980 she began in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health.
Career [ edit ]
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Birx served as a physician in the United States Army, rising to the rank of colonel[4] before she retired from military service. She started her career with the United States Department of Defense as a clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. She then served as an Assistant Chief of the Hospital Immunology Service at Walter Reed Army Medical Center from 1985 to 1989. In 1996, she became the Director of the United States Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, a role she held until 2005.[5]
From 2005 to 2014, Birx served as the director of CDC's Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), which is part of the agency's Center for Global Health.[6]
She was nominated by President Barack Obama as United States Global AIDS Coordinator and confirmed by the Senate; she was sworn in April 4, 2014.[7] In her role as ambassador she has led the organization to meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets set by Obama in 2015 with the goal of ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.[8] She says that PEPFAR has cut pediatric HIV infection rates by 50 percent in several African countries.[9]
On February 27, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence named Ambassador Birx as the coronavirus (COVID-19) response coordinator for the White House. During a March 13, 2020 Emergency Declaration Press Conference, Birx and Donald Trump created a lie regarding Google developing a website to assist with the COVID19 pandemic. At the event, Birx held up a flow chart and Donald Trump stated Google was developing a nationwide website to help people determine whether and how to get a novel coronavirus test. Google later stated no website was in development and they had no plans to develop a nationwide website as Donald Trump or Dr. Birx described. [1][10][11]
Other activities [ edit ]
- Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Member of the Board[12]
References [ edit ]
- ^ a b "Pence announces White House coronavirus response coordinator". Washington Post. 27 February 2020 . Retrieved 27 February 2020 .
- ^ Six Prominent Women Scientists Making a Difference in the AIDS Fight AIVI Report, Volume 19, 2015
- ^ Remarks by Secretary of State John Kerry U.S. Department of State, April 25, 2014
- ^ PN194 — Army Congressional Record, June 27, 1997
- ^ Deborah L. Birx, M.D. U.S. Department of State, accessed May 20, 2016
- ^ Deborah L. Birx, MD Ambassador at Large Designate and Coordinator Designate, Department of State, United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally U.S. Senate, March 6, 2014
- ^ Dr. Deborah Birx Sworn-In as New U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS relief, April 4, 2014
- ^ Harnessing the Data Revolution for an AIDS-Free Generation The Huffington Post, April 14, 2016
- ^ U.S. official calls for focus on gender equality as means to end AIDS The Daily Bruin, February 4, 2016
- ^ https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/public-global-health/486331-new-coronavirus-phase-puts-spotlight-on-white-house
- ^ https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/13/21179118/google-coronavirus-testing-screening-website-drive-thru-covid-19
- ^ Members of the Board Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.