On Monday, October 9th, 2020, President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris met with scientists and healthcare experts. This meeting was important because it would help the new administration to figure out the best way to slow the spread of COVID-19.
The group of health experts and scientists were made up of prominent surgeons, administrators, and professors. They included individuals such as Dr. David Kessler who once was the Commissioner of the Drug and Food Administration (FDA) and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith who is an associate professor at the prestigious Yale University. These individuals help to make up the Biden administration’s 13-member task force. They will be some of the people responsible for designing a plan to keep COVID-19 under control.
Biden and Harris went on to meet with and create a task force of 13 brilliant and prestigious people to help deal with the Coronavirus Pandemic. The complete list of members they hire to deal with the task force are:
- Luciana Borio – An infectious disease physician and public health administrator and former member of the National Security Council
- Rick Arthur Bright – An American immunologist, vaccine researcher, and public health official
- Ezekiel Emanuel – An oncologist and bioethicist
- Atul Gawande – A surgeon and public health researcher
- Eric Goosby – A professor at the UCSF School of Medicine and public health official
- Celine Gounder – An American infectious disease physician, internist, epidemiologist
- Dr. David Kessler – Once was the Commissioner of the Drug and Food Administration (FDA)
- Julie Morita – Executive Vice President of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
- Vivek Murthy – Previously served as the Surgeon General of the United States
- Marcella Nunez-Smith – Associate Professor at the Yale School of Medicine
- Michael Osterholm – Director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota
- Loyce Pace – President & Executive Director of the Global Health Council
- Robert Rodriguez – Professor of emergency medicine at the UCSF School of Medicine
Additionally, Biden went on to hire two health advisors who will not serve on the task force but will aid in the preparation of dealing with COVID19. They include:
- Dr. Beth Cameron
- Rebecca Katz – A Georgetown University Medical Center Professor and director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security
The coronavirus pandemic will be the first true test of the Biden Administration. They do not have a choice but to get this pandemic under control. If they cannot, it will place the Biden administration in a bad position. Most Americans believe that Biden and Harris can get this pandemic under control and get America back on course.
