President-elect Joe Biden has announced the members of his coronavirus task force, which will put together a blueprint for fighting the pandemic.
The co-chairs are former Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, former Food Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a Yale University professor and researcher.
Notable among the task force members is Rick Bright, a vaccine expert and former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Bright filed a whistleblower complaint alleging he was reassigned to a lesser job because he resisted political pressure to allow widespread use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug pushed by President Donald Trump as a COVID-19 treatment.
Other members include Luciana Borio, a biodefense specialist; Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist and bioethics chair at the National Institutes of Health; Dr. Atul Gawande, a Clinton administration health advisor and surgery expert; Dr. Celine Gounder, an infectious disease expert who has studied HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis; Dr. Julie Morita, a pediatric and immunization specialist; Dr. Michael Osterholm, an infectious disease expert and epidemiologist; Loyce Pace, a global health specialist; Dr. Robert Rodriguez, an emergency medicine expert who has researched mental health of COVID-19 responders; and Dr. Eric Goosby, an infectious disease expert who has worked in AIDS/HIV.
Thank you, Mr. President-elect. Sanity is such a refreshing change.
Excellent list
I understand Rick Bright made the list, as well as many other exceptionally qualified people. Finally, sanity is on the rise.
Surely you’re going to miss Mr. Atlas.
People who actually know what they’re talking about. Go figure. (Also people who apparently aren’t currently in frontline jobs that would suffer from this work.)
Well, whenever expertise in neuroradiology will help them figure out what to do about COVID, they can always turn to Dr. Atlas.