Deputy Director for Global Health

Staff Bio

Dr. John N. Nkengasong is the Deputy Director for Global Health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Dr. John N. Nkengasong

Previous experience

Until recently, he served as Ambassador at Large, U.S. Department of State, overseeing the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. In 2022, he was the pioneer of the Bureau for Global Health and Security at the U.S. Department of State. In this role, the Bureau was responsible for coordinating the Department’s work on strengthening global health security to prevent, detect, and respond to infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS.

He was the first director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, where he transformed the organization into a fully autonomous health agency of the African Union. He led the COVID-19 response in Africa, coordinating with heads of state and governments across 55 member states and helping secure 400 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines at the height of vaccine scarcity.

Dr. Nkengasong also previously served as acting deputy principal director of the Center for Global Health and as chief of the International Laboratory Branch in the Division of Global HIV and TB at the CDC. He is a world-renowned public health leader, and his contributions have been recognized with numerous prestigious awards, including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's 2020 Global Goalkeeper Award, Time Magazine's 2021 Time 100 List of Most Influential People, Fortune magazine's 2021 World's 50 Greatest Leaders, and Bloomberg's 2021 Bloomberg 50 Influential People. He has also received the CDC's Shepard Award and the William Watson Medal of Excellence. In 2022, he joined the National Academy of Medicine, became the first laureate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health. and was invited by Pope Benedict to join the Vatican Pontifical Academy of Life. The following year, in 2023, Dr. Nkengasong received the African of the Year Award from the All Africa Business Leaders Award in partnership with CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa. He has authored or co-authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in professional journals. Additionally, Dr. Nkengasong holds the rare honor of being knighted by the governments of Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, and Cameroon.