John N. Nkengasong has been nominated by President Biden to be Ambassador-At-Large for Global Health Security and Diplomacy, Department of State.
Nkengasong is currently the Ambassador-At-Large and Coordinator of U.S Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS Globally and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy at the Department of State. If confirmed, Nkengasong would lead the new Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy, which provides a single voice of leadership on global health security and diplomacy and advances the State Department’s longstanding focus on HIV/AIDS through the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
Previously, he was Director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which is a specialized technical institution of the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Prior to that, Nkengasong was Acting Deputy Director, Center for Global Health, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and before that the Chief of the International Laboratory Branch, Division of Global HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis at the CDC. Nkengasong also served as the Associate Director for Laboratory Science, Division of Global AIDS/HIV and Tuberculosis, Center for Global Health, CDC, and Co-Chair of the PEPFAR’s Laboratory Technical Working Group. He has also served as a board member for the International Vaccine Initiative in New York, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovation, in Norway.Nkengasong received his B.Sc. from the Faculty of Science, University of Yaoundé, Cameroon, his M.Sc. from the Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium and his Ph.D from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Brussels, Belgium. He also received a Diploma in Leadership and Management from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He is the recipient of numerous awards and recognitions, including the first laurate of the Virchow Prize for Global Health and served as one of the WHO Director General’s Special Envoys for COVID-19 since 2020. He is a member of the U.S National Academy of Medicine. He has authored or co-authored over 250 peer-review papers and book chapters in professional journals.