Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Director Tom Inglesby joins White House COVID-19 Response Team

Tom Inglesby, director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, has been appointed senior adviser for testing on the White House COVID-19 Response Team, a post he assumed Jan. 3. Inglesby initially joined the White House COVID-19 Response Team Dec. 20 on temporary assignment before the departure of the previous testing coordinator, Carole Johnson. Inglesby's appointment is for three months.

Image caption: Thomas Inglesby

Inglesby's work is internationally recognized in the fields of public health preparedness, pandemic and emerging infectious disease, and prevention of and response to biological threats.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Inglesby has provided technical guidance to response efforts at the global, federal, state, and local level. He has given analysis and expert testimony to policymakers, business leaders, and health organizations on public health interventions needed to control the pandemic. He served on the Maryland Governor's COVID-19 Response Advisory Committee, the COVID Collaborative's National Advisory Council, and as a commissioner on the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice.

In 2020, he served on the Biden-Harris transition team reviewing the Department of Health and Human Services and advising on COVID-19 policy. In 2021, Inglesby served as senior policy adviser for the COVID-19 response in the Office of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

"Tom's work is recognized not only in the U.S. but around the world for his work in public health and pandemic preparedness. At HHS, he has played a critical role in identifying how to help communities who need the most help in our work to mitigate COVID-19," Becerra said. "His talent for quickly assessing new data and science to determine the best path forward has routinely been an asset to the administration at large. With Tom at the White House, our nation will continue to benefit from his expertise as we tackle the pandemic."

"Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government and many state leaders have turned to the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security for recommendations and guidance in managing the fast-moving pandemic," said Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Deputy Director Anita Cicero. "As we all face the challenges of the ongoing pandemic and the emergence of the omicron variant, we're proud that Tom will play a key role in the White House to guide national testing strategies."

Inglesby, who will return to his role at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in April, is also a professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, with a joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.