Deborah Birx
![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() (epidemiologist, military) | |
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Born | April 4, 1956 Pennsylvania |
Nationality | US |
Member of | White House/Coronavirus Task Force |
Interests | • COVID-19 • COVID-19/Lockdown • HIV/AIDS |
Colonel Deborah Leah Birx is the head of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Contents
Career
From 1980 to 1994, Birx served as an active duty reserve officer in the United States Army, and from 1994 to 2008, she was a regular active duty officer, achieving the rank of Colonel.[1]
From 1980 to 1989, Birx worked as a physician at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.[2] In 1981, Birx completed a one-year internship and did a two-year residency in internal medicine. From 1983 to 1986, she completed two fellowships in clinical immunology in the areas of allergies and diagnostics, where she worked in Anthony Fauci's lab.[3] From 1985 to 1989, Birx was the assistant chief of the Walter Reed Allergy/Immunology Service. Birx started her career as a clinician in immunology, eventually focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research.[4]
From 1986 to 1989, Birx worked at the National Institutes of Health as an investigator specializing in cellular immunology.
Birx returned to the military Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where from 1989 to 1995 she worked in the Department of Retroviral Research, first as an assistant chief and then chief of the division. She was lab director in HIV-1 Vaccine Development for a year. Birx became the Director of the United States Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, a position she held for nine years, from 1996 to 2005. In that position, Birx led the HIV vaccine clinical trial of RV 144, the first supporting evidence of any vaccine being effective in lowering the risk of contracting HIV.[5]
CDC
From 2005 to 2014, Birx served as the director of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), part of the agency's Center for Global Health.
President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
In January 2014, President Barack Obama nominated Birx to be the Ambassador at Large and U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) program.[6]
On April 4, 2014, Birx was confirmed by the Senate.[7] She described her role as ambassador to help meet the HIV prevention and treatment targets set by Obama in 2015 to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.[8] Her role has focused on the areas HIV/AIDS immunology, vaccine research, and global health issues around HIV/AIDS. As part of her work with HIV prevention, Birx created a program called DREAMS (Determined, Resilient, Empowered, AIDS-free, Mentored and Safe), a public-private partnership focused on reducing infection rates in adolescent populations.[9]
On February 27, 2020, Vice President Mike Pence appointed Birx to the position of White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator. As part of this role, Birx reports to Pence on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.[10]
On March 26, 2020, Birx sought to reassure Americans in a press conference[11] that "there is no situation in the United States right now that warrants that kind of discussion [that ventilators or ICU hospital beds might be in limited supply] ...;You can be thinking about it ...;but to say that to the American people, to make the implication that when they need a hospital bed, it's not going to be there, or when they need that ventilator, it's not going to be there, we don't have evidence of that right now."[12]
Event Participated in
Event | Start | End | Location(s) | Description |
---|---|---|---|---|
UNAIDS/Programme Coordinating Board/Meeting/43 | 11 December 2018 | 13 December 2018 | UNAIDS Executive Board room WHO Geneva | A Geneva meeting of the 43rd Programme Coordinating Board of UNAIDS |
References
- ↑ https://cumberlink.com/news/local/communities/carlisle/white-house-names-carlisle-high-school-grad-to-serve-as/article_bf216326-8892-5f56-a0c7-37867bc06295.html
- ↑ https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/224406.htm
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deborah_Birx#cite_note-2020-03-NYTimes-Profile-3
- ↑ https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/224406.htm
- ↑ https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/biog/224406.htm
- ↑ https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/030614_Transcript_Nominations%20of%20Birx_LeVine_Cormack_Selfridge.pdf
- ↑ http://www.pepfar.gov/press/releases/2014/224403.htm
- ↑ url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/harnessing-the-data-revol_b_9679528
- ↑ https://www.popcouncil.org/news/making-the-dream-to-end-hiv-a-reality-by-empowering-adolescent-girls-and-yo
- ↑ url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/29/health/Trump-coronavirus-taskforce.html
- ↑ https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2020/03/26/coronavirus-latest-news/
- ↑ https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/03/26/dr_birx_coronavirus_data_doesnt_match_the_doomsday_media_predictions_or_analysis.html