# COVID-19 Advisory Board

The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency in January 2021.

## Background

Before naming any White House staff or cabinet appointments, Biden announced that he would appoint a COVID-19 task force, co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner David Kessler and Yale University epidemiologist Professor Marcella Nunez-Smith. In November 2020, he announced the names of 13 health experts to serve on the COVID-19 Advisory Board. Biden pledged a more and larger federal government response to the pandemic than Donald Trump, akin to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression. This would include increased testing for SARS-CoV-2, a steady supply of personal protective equipment, distributing a vaccine and securing money from Congress for schools and hospitals under the aegis of a national "supply chain commander" who would coordinate the logistics of manufacturing and distributing protective gear and test kits. This would be distributed by a "Pandemic Testing Board", also similar to Roosevelt's War Production Board during World War II. Biden also pledged to invoke the Defense Production Act more aggressively than Trump in order to build up supplies, as well as the mobilization of up to 100,000 Americans for a "public health jobs corps" of contact tracers to help track and prevent outbreaks.
Jeffrey Zients will work with the advisory board as the incoming White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator (czar). Civil servant and political advisor, Natalie Quillian, will serve as Deputy Coronavirus Response Coordinator.

## Succession

The board was dissolved on January 20, 2021, after President Biden was sworn in.

## Members

There were 16 members of the COVID-19 advisory board, appointed by President of the United States Joe Biden. Three of the members, David A. Kessler, Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith, served as co-chairs.
| Member | Role | Education | Appointment |
| David A. Kessler | Former Commissioner of Food and Drugs Co-chair | Amherst College (BA) University of Chicago (JD) Harvard University (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Marcella Nunez-Smith | Yale School of Medicine associate dean for health equity research Co-chair | Swarthmore College (BA) Thomas Jefferson University (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Vivek Murthy | Former Surgeon General of the United States Co-chair | Harvard University (BA) Yale University (MD, MBA) | November 9, 2020 |
| Luciana Borio | Former Acting Chief Scientist of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration | George Washington University (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Rick Bright | Former Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority | University of Kansas Auburn University, Montgomery (BS) Emory University (MS, PhD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Ezekiel Emanuel | Former Chief of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center | Amherst College (BA) Exeter College, Oxford (MS) Harvard University (MD, PhD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Atul Gawande | Brigham and Women's Hospital professor of surgery | Stanford University (BA, BS) Balliol College, Oxford (MA) Harvard University (MD, MPH) | November 9, 2020 |
| Céline Gounder | New York University School of Medicine assistant professor | Princeton University (BA) Johns Hopkins University (MS) University of Washington, Seattle (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Julie Morita | Executive Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign (BS) University of Illinois College of Medicine (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Michael Osterholm | Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy | Luther College (BA) University of Minnesota (MS, MPH, PhD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Loyce Pace | Executive Director and President of the Global Health Council | Stanford University (BS) Johns Hopkins University (MPH) | November 9, 2020 |
| Robert Rodriguez | UCSF School of Medicine emergency medicine professor | University of Notre Dame (BA) Harvard University (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Eric Goosby | Former United States Global AIDS Coordinator | Princeton University (BA) University of California, San Francisco (MD) | November 9, 2020 |
| Jane Hopkins | Nurse at Harborview Medical Center and Snoqualmie Hospital | | November 28, 2020 |
| Jill Jim | Executive director of the Navajo Department of Health | Northern Arizona University (BA) University of Utah (MPH, PhD) | November 28, 2020 |
| David Michaels | Professor of Environmental and Occupational Health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health | Columbia University (MPH, PhD) | November 28, 2020 |