Check out the website https://lenspoliticalnotes.com Political Note #335 Biden Fight Fund, Political Note #336 GEORGIA AND THE US SENATE, Political Note #334 The Biden Transition Team
Democracy in action. Do not forget Georgia. OR as Senator Jon Tester says: Run through the f—-ing tape.
Joe Biden has announced his Covid-19 Task Force. In doing that, he continues to show us how he will govern. He relies on the Best and the Brightest. We know that that is not always a perfect approach. There are those who blame reliance on the Best and the Brightest for the Vietnam war. Nevertheless, it is a better way of governing than relying on cronies trying to make money for themselves, better than intimidating government officials, better than firing government officials who disagree with you, better than searching for the deep state.
Joe Biden may know how to get guidance from the Best and the Brightest. How to ask them for guidance about how to solve a problem. How to ask how to take a skeletal plan and make it effective public policy. We’ll have a chance to watch.
The Covid-19 Task Force has a skeletal plan to examine, to look at strengths and weaknesses, and to report on plans for implementation to the President-Elect. Here is the skeletal plan:
- Regular, reliable and free testing for all Americans.
- Develop and distribute a larger supply of personal protective equipment made in the U.S.
- Use a renewable fund for local governments and a “restart package” for safe operation costs for small businesses to guide communities’ navigation of the pandemic.
- Invest $25 billion to manufacture and distribute vaccines.
- Establish a “racial and ethnic disparities task force” and a visible, regularly updated record to protect the elderly and groups that are at high risk from Covid-19.
- Restore institutional commitments.
- Rejoin the World Health Organization
- Recreate the White House National Security Council Directorate for Global Health Security and Biodefense
- Work with local authorities and help them create mask mandates
The Task Force should be asked if this is the right skeleton. If not, how should it be changed. If it is the right skeleton, how should it be achieved? What resources are needed? What help is needed? What organization is needed?
The group may need a political liaison. Most are doctors. Many are epidemiologists. Several are experts in public health. Many have experience in the federal government and know how public policy can be implemented. Let’s see how they do. They should be ready with a comprehensive plan on January 20.
Co-Chairs
David Kessler – FDA Commissioner 1990 – 1997, Dean Yale Medical School 1997-2003, Dean and Vice-Chancellor, UCSF Medical School 2003 – 200, author, He is a graduate of Amherst College, has an MD from Harvard, and a JD from the University of Chicago Law School. (Born: New York, NY)
Vivek Murthy – U.S. Surgeon General, Dec. 2014-Jan. 2017 was appointed the first Indian-American Surgeon General. While an undergraduate at Harvard, he founded VISIONS Worldwide to combat HIV/AIDS in the US and India. As an adult, he founded the non-profit Doctors for American to increase access to healthcare. He has an MD from the Yale Medical School, an MBA from the Yale Business School, and a BA from Harvard College. (Born: Huddersfield, UK)
Marcella Nunez-Smith – Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Public Health, and Management Yale School of Medicine; Founding Director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center (ERIC); Director of the Center for Research Engagement (CRE); Deputy Director of the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation; Core Faculty in the National Clinician Scholars Program; Research Faculty in the Global Health Leadership Initiative; Director of the Pozen-Commonwealth Fund Fellowship in Health Equity Leadership; and Co-Director of the Doris Duke Clinical Research Fellowship. BA Swarthmore 1996, MD Jefferson Medical College 2001, MHS Yale 2006, Post-doc Yale Medical School, Chief Resident, Veteran’s Administration Medical Center, West Roxbury, MA, Resident and Intern, Brigham and Women’s Hospital. (Born: St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands)
Members of the Task Force
Luciana Borio VP of non-profit In-Q-It venture capital firm which invests in high tech to provide the most up to date technology information for US intelligence agencies including the CIA. She also practices medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. National Security Council Director for Medical and Biodefense Preparedness (2017-2019), Acting Chief Scientist, FDA 2015-2017, Assistant Commissioner of the FDA for Counterterrorism Policy 2010-2017, Senior Associate at the University of Pittsburgh Center for Health Security and assistant Professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh (2003-2008) and an advisor to the US DHH on biodefense programs (2001-2008) MD from George Washington University (1996) Residency Weil Cornell, fellowship at Johns Hopkins in association in NIH. (Born Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
Rick Bright. Director, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services for Preparedness and Response (2016-2020 – demoted for whistleblowing by Donald Trump), Joined BARDA in 2010 and held various roles including Deputy and Acting Director. 2008-2010 Project Director for non-profit PATH, 2006-2008 Headed projects for the US government and for various non-profits and corporations 1990-2008. BS Auburn University-Montgomery; MS, PhD Emory (Born in Hutchinson, KS)
Ezekiel Emanuel — Vice Provost for global initiatives, University of Pennsylvania and Chair of the Department of Medical Ethics. Holds a joint appointment with the Wharton School of Business. Previously Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School. BA Amherst, MA Exeter College, Oxford, MD and PhD Harvard. (Born in Chicago, IL) Family – father was born in Jerusalem and was a member of the Irgun, brother Ari is a talent agent in Hollywood, brother Rahm was mayor of Chicago and Barack Obama’s Chief of Staff.
Atul Gawande – Surgeon, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Professor at Harvard School of Health and Harvard Medical School, Executive Director, Ariadne Labs, formerly CEO of the health venture Haven, jointly owned by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan. Widely read author, BA Stanford, MA Balliol, Oxford, MD, MPH Harvard, Residency, Harvard. (Born, Brooklyn, grew up Athens, Ohio)
Celine Gounder – Medical Doctor, Journalist, and consultant. Residency at Mass General, Post-doc at Johns Hopkins, Project Director funded by Gates, Project Director NYC Department of Public Health, BA Princeton, MS Johns Hopkins, MD University of Washington. (Lives in NYC)
Julie Morita – Executive VP, Robert Woods Johnson Foundation, 2015-2019 Commissioner of Chicago Department of Public Health after serving in the Department from 1999. Previously worked for the CDC from 1997-1999 and as a pediatrician in Tucson from 1993-1997. BS and MD University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, residency, University of Minnesota. (Born and raised in Chicago, IL)
Michael Osterholm – Director, Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota(2001-present), Minnesota Department of Health, in various roles, from 1975 to 1999. BA Luther College, MS and PhD University of Minnesota (Born in Waukon, Iowa)
Loyce Pace – President and Executive Director, Global Health Council of the United Nations Association of the USA (2016 – present). Previously worked for/with the LIVESTRONG Foundation, the American Cancer Society, Physicians for Human Rights, and Catholic Relief Services. BA Stanford, MPH Johns Hopkins.
Robert Rodriguez – Professor, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine. Critical care specialist affiliated with San Francisco General Hospital and UCSF Medical Center, Residency Stanford, BA Notre Dame, MD Harvard. (Born and raised, Brownsville, Texas)
Eric Goosby — Director, Center for Global Health Delivery and Diplomacy, University of California, San Francisco and University of California, Berkeley. US Global Aids Coordinator 2009-2013. Served in various roles at US DHHS 1991- 2001 working on AIDS related issues, CEO Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation 2001-2009, Appointed in 2015 UN Special Envoy on Tuberculosis BA Princeton, MD UCSF, Residency, UCSF. (Born and raised in San Francisco, CA)
