National leader on the U.S.’s COVID-19 response Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, will be the keynote speaker at the College of Public Health’s Degree Celebration on May 20 at Eagle Bank Arena. This is the first Degree Celebration as the College of Public Health. Jha will address the next generation of leaders based on his 25-plus years in the health care industry.
A practicing physician, Jha, was appointed as Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response by President Biden. In his former role, he served as dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University. He is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on domestic and global health policy. Jha has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and has been a trusted voice on the COVID-19 response by leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policymakers.
Learn more about CPH Degree Celebration here.
Jha joined Brown in 2020 after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
Jha has published more than 250 original research publications in leading medical and health policy journals and is a frequent contributor to various public media outlets. His research has focused primarily on public health policy’s impact on health outcomes and health care spending domestically and globally.
He has practiced for nearly two decades at Veterans Affairs hospitals, providing direct clinical care to veterans.
Born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India, Jha moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1979 and to the United States in 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a BA in economics, received his MD from Harvard Medical School, and completed his Master of Public Health degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. He has been a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2013.