Dr. Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH

Dean, Brown University School of Public Health

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH

Dean, Brown University School of Public Health

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Biography

A global leader driving public health research, policy, and practice, Dr. Jha is a trusted expert on major issues impacting public health, and a catalyst for new thinking and approaches. As a long-time leader on pandemic preparedness and response, from directing groundbreaking research on Ebola to serving on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, he has led national and international analysis of key issues and advised local and federal policy makers around the world.

President Joe Biden appointed Dr. Jha as White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator in March 2022, describing him as “one of the leading public health experts in America.” At the White House, Dr. Jha led the work that increased the development of and access to treatments and newly formulated vaccines, dramatically improved testing and surveillance, facilitated major investments in indoor air quality measures, and put in place an infrastructure to respond to current and future disease outbreaks more effectively.

Dr. Jha received bipartisan praise for his pragmatic approach to public health that, in the words of President Biden, “translates…complex scientific challenges into concrete actions” that help improve millions of lives.

An accomplished and practicing physician, Dr. Jha joined the Brown School of Public Health as dean in September 2020. Before joining the Brown School of Public Health, Dr. Jha was a faculty member at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health since 2004 and at Harvard Medical School since 2005. He was the Faculty Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute from 2014 until September 2020. From 2018 to 2020, he also served as the Dean for Global Strategy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. A general internist previously with the West Roxbury VA in Massachusetts, Dr. Jha has continued his practice at the Providence VA Medical Center.

Dr. Jha has published nearly three hundred original research publications in prestigious journals and has consistently been ranked in the top 1% of most cited researchers. He is also a frequent contributor to a range of public media across the political spectrum, focused on how science and evidence can be used to craft better policy and improve health both in the US and around the globe.

Dr. Jha was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India in 1970. He moved to Toronto, Canada in 1979 and then to the United States in 1983. In 1992 Dr. Jha graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in economics. He received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1997 and then trained as a resident in Internal Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. He returned to Boston to complete his fellowship in General Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 2004, he completed his Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Jha was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.

Speaker Videos

COVID & The American Workforce | CNBC Work Summit

SPH Dean Ashish Jha at the OECD High-Level Policy Forum

What to Know About 'Breakthrough Infections' After Being Vaccinated | GMA

COVID-19 Grand Rounds | UCSF School of Medicine

The Power of Evidence in Reforming US Healthcare

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Speech Topics

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE PANDEMIC?

What have we learned from COVID-19? What did the pandemic expose, and teach us, here and around the globe?

Is the US, the world, better prepared for future health crises?

Can we, will we, ensure that when future outbreaks happen, it doesn’t lead to loss of lives and livelihoods? If yes, how?
What is the responsibility of the private sector? The role of government? Our international obligations?
What does history tell us about post-pandemic changes that shape societies?

THE ICEBERG OF RISING HEALTH CARE COSTS: HOW WE STOP IT FROM SINKING OUR ECONOMY (Because it will)

Runaway health care spending now threatens to sink our economy
o Eating into wage growth while ballooning the costs of overall worker compensation; bad for workers and businesses
o Swallowing state budgets, forcing deep cuts in other essential services and priorities
o Straining federal budget
What’s driving these rising costs?
Why do policymakers keep getting the solutions wrong?
And what is the agenda for action?
○ What can policymakers do? What about businesses? Individuals?

CLIMATE CHANGE & HEALTH: A NOXIOUS CONNECTION

Climate change – is often seen as an environmental problem, which of course it is. But, It is also the most urgent, overlooked threat to health.

The connection is real, immediate, and deadly.

How climate change impacts health

Drought => Famine => Migration => Disease spread
More respiratory illness
Heat-related illness

Solutions demand new connections between scientists and policy makers

Beyond reducing carbon pollution, what should healthcare systems be doing?

Mitigation by healthcare systems – reducing their own footprint
Understanding how climate change is going to drive big impacts on population health
Building climate resilient healthcare systems
Building climate sensitive population health strategies.
The role of governments, businesses and non-profit organizations in solutions

CAN ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE MAKE US HEALTHIER?

Artificial Intelligence and its Application to Medicine and Public Health

• What are the major tools of AI that might actually be useful? How? When? Where?
• What are the challenges of AI – to providers, patients, health care systems?
• What are the risks that are not being adequately understood or captured?
• The role of AI in transforming health and healthcare not just in the US but around the globe

KEEPING EMPLOYEES HEALTHY AT WORK

COVID has taught us a lot about how we can keep people healthy at work

• Respiratory infections – COVID, flu, RSV, and others have a large impact on worker health, missed days of work, etc.
• When employees’ kids get sick at school, that can impact their work
• We now have tools to effectively manage respiratory infections – during typical respiratory infection seasons as well during crisis times
• The role of Indoor Air Quality in keeping people healthy
• Other strategies such as testing and treatments that can make a big difference
• Ultimately, this talk is focused on employers who understand typical respiratory seasons are disruptive and a bad season can be even more so – but we now have the tools to manage it far more effectively

Testimonials

"I wanted to send our enormous thanks for being our honored guest on our Wednesdays with Woodward webinar yesterday. The conversation came at such a pivotal time in the pandemic, and your vast knowledge and approachable style certainly helped inspire confidence in the vaccines, provide clarity about the current situation and give hope for the country – not an easy thing to do these days! We appreciate your willingness to share your public health expertise with our attendees, and believe the number of audience questions we received was testament to what a trusted voice you are during this pandemic. We have received such positive feedback already about the program, and are so thankful for your time."

- The Travelers Companies, Inc.

"Dr. Ashish Jha spoke to our group today about the pandemic generally and specifically about vaccines. The preparation for the session was smooth. Dr. Jha made himself available and helped think through the organization and flow. The presentation itself went without a hitch. Dr. Jha presented some prepared remarks and then took about 20 minutes of questions. Throughout the presentation, Dr. Jha was profoundly knowledgeable, spoke about current (i.e. yesterday) information with comfort and command of the topic, was flexible to adapt to the questions, and most importantly, had a kind of humanity and approachability with his style that made the content attractive and digestible. He personalized some of his remarks and made the topic easier for folks to understand. In short, Dr. Jha did a great job and we are supremely grateful. For what it's worth, his role in promoting public health understanding may be among the most important roles for public health people. We need more people like Dr. Jha."

- Salesforce