Ashish Jha, a physician and public health specialist of Indian ancestry from Brown University, has been named the White House’s new COVID-19 Response Coordinator. Dr. Jha will succeed Jeff Zeints, who has led the Biden administration’s pandemic response to date, President Joe Biden announced Thursday.
“Dr. Jha is a nationally recognized public health expert and a familiar figure to many Americans due to his wise and calming public presence. And as we enter a new phase of the pandemic — implementing my National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and managing ongoing COVID risks — Dr. Jha is the ideal candidate,” Mr. Biden stated. He also lauded Mr. Zeints’ efforts in establishing the infrastructure necessary to combat the pandemic.
Biden called Ashish Jha a gentleman
“He is a gentleman and an accomplished manager,” Mr. Biden stated. Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, has been a commentator for The Hindu and has appeared on Indian television multiple times since the pandemic began. According to a biography from Brown University, Dr. Jha has worked on Ebola and served as co-chair of a commission charged with addressing an outbreak of the disease in West Africa in 2014.
Dr. Ashish Jha will assume the position at a time when nearly a million Americans have died as a result of COVID-19. The United States recently experienced a wave of the Omicron variant, while news of a new subvariant BA.2 causing pandemic surges in Europe is being closely monitored. Two years into the pandemic and with three-quarters of the population has received a single dose of the vaccine, the country is rethinking its approach to COVID-19 management as the virus shows signs of becoming endemic.
“We still have critical work to do to protect Americans’ lives and well-being,” Dr. Jha acknowledged on Twitter, despite the fact that “significant” progress had already been made.