The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.
Background Before naming any White House staff or cabinet appointments, Biden announced that he would appoint a COVID-19 task force, co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University epidemiologist Professor Marcella Nunez-Smith. In November 2020, he announced the names of 13 health experts to serve on the COVID-19 Advisory Board. Biden pledged a more and larger federal government response to the pandemic than Donald Trump, akin to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression. This would include increased testing for SARS-CoV-2, a steady supply of personal protective equipment, distributing a vaccine and securing money from Congress for schools and hospitals under the aegis of a national "supply chain commander" who would coordinate the logistics of manufacturing and distributing protective gear and test kits. This would be distributed by a "Pandemic Testing Board", also similar to Roosevelt's War Production Board during World War II. Biden also pledged to invoke the Defense Production Act more aggressively than Trump in order to build up supplies, as well as the mobilization of up to 100,000 Americans for a "public health jobs corps" of contact tracers to help track and prevent outbreaks.
Jeffrey Zients will work with the advisory board as the incoming White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator (czar). Civil servant and political advisor, Natalie Quillian, will serve as Deputy Coronavirus Response Coordinator.
Succession The board was dissolved on January 20, 2021, after President Biden was sworn in.
Members There were 16 members of the COVID-19 advisory board, appointed by President of the United States Joe Biden. Three of the members, David A. Kessler, Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith, served as co-chairs.
MemberRoleEducationAppointmentFormer Commissioner of Food and DrugsCo-chairAmherst College (BA)University of Chicago (JD)Harvard University (MD)Yale School of Medicine associate dean for health equity researchCo-chairSwarthmore College (BA)Thomas Jefferson University (MD)Former Surgeon General of the United StatesCo-chairHarvard University (BA)Yale University (MD, MBA)Former Acting Chief Scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationGeorge Washington University (MD)Former Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development AuthorityUniversity of KansasAuburn University, Montgomery (BS)Emory University (MS, PhD)Former Chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical CenterAmherst College (BA)Exeter College, Oxford (MS)Harvard University (MD, PhD)Brigham and Women's Hospital professor of surgeryStanford University (BA, BS)Balliol College, Oxford (MA)Harvard University (MD, MPH)New York University School of Medicine assistant professorPrinceton University (BA)Johns Hopkins University (MS)University of Washington, Seattle (MD)Executive Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson FoundationUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS)University of Illinois College of Medicine (MD)Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and PolicyLuther College (BA)University of Minnesota (MS, MPH, PhD)Executive Director and President of the Global Health CouncilStanford University (BS)Johns Hopkins University (MPH)UCSF School of Medicine emergency medicine professorUniversity of Notre Dame (BA)Harvard University (MD)Former United States Global AIDS CoordinatorPrinceton University (BA)University of California, San Francisco (MD)Nurse at Harborview Medical Center and Snoqualmie HospitalNovember 28, 2020 Executive director of the Navajo Department of HealthNorthern Arizona University (BA) University of Utah (MPH, PhD)November 28, 2020 Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public HealthColumbia University (MPH, PhD)November 28, 2020
See also Presidency of Joe Biden White House Coronavirus Task Force
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