The dean of Brown’s School of Public Health will take leave for a temporary assignment to serve in the critical federal government role.
Brown
University
To
assume the critical role in the nation’s pandemic response and advise Biden,
Jha will take a short-term leave from the School of Public Health for the
temporary special assignment. The appointment begins April 5, 2022.
Biden
issued a statement on Thursday, March 17,
announcing Zients’ departure and Jha’s appointment.
“Dr. Jha is one of the leading public health experts in America, and a well-known figure to many Americans from his wise and calming public presence,” Biden said. “And as we enter a new moment in the pandemic — executing on my National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and managing the ongoing risks from COVID — Dr. Jha is the perfect person for the job.”
Dr.
Jha is one of the leading public health experts in America, and a well-known
figure to many Americans from his wise and calming public presence. And as we
enter a new moment in the pandemic — executing on my National COVID-19
Preparedness Plan and managing the ongoing risks from COVID — Dr. Jha is the
perfect person for the job.
Brown
University President Christina H. Paxson said Jha’s appointment brings a top
scholar and highly regarded Brown academic leader to White House service,
offering a prominent illustration of the ways in which the University can make
a positive impact on domestic and global issues of significant consequence.
“Ashish will bring to President Biden and our nation what he has brought — and will bring back — to Brown: an unrivaled commitment to improving public health equitably, effectively, creatively, with heart and a commitment to science,” Paxson said. “The work he has begun at the School of Public Health will continue, with the strong team he has recruited and the full support of the University. And it will advance even further with the benefit of this experience in national and global leadership.”
In
addition to his role as dean and public health scholar, Jha is a practicing
physician with deep expertise in infectious diseases. He was appointed to
lead the School of Public Health in February 2020, weeks before COVID-19
arrived in full force in the U.S., and he began
as dean in September 2020.
He
is a globally recognized expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well
as on health policy research and practice. Over the past year, Jha has
participated in Congressional hearings on the
COVID-19 vaccine rollout and the global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic,
among others. Recently, he advised the White House on the
President’s national COVID-19 preparedness plan.
Jha
expressed enthusiasm about how he will build upon his work at Brown in role at
the White House.
“Throughout
this pandemic, we have worked at Brown to improve public understanding and
information, and inform policy at every level of government here and around the
globe,” Jha said. “I am honored to accept President Biden’s invitation to serve
and continue that work. I do so confident that the work of the Brown School of
Public Health will advance around critical issues including pandemic
preparedness and key initiatives we have launched and are growing, to improve
understanding and policy in key public health issues, and train the next
generation of public health leaders.”
Building
on momentum with a strong team
Since
his start as dean, Jha has worked to strengthen and grow a public health school
deeply engaged with solving the world’s most challenging health problems. Under
his leadership, the school has launched a new fully
online master of public health degree program and academic
initiatives focused on long COVID, pandemic preparedness and
health misinformation. The school created a Health Equity Scholars program to
expand diversity among public health leaders, increased the number of
tenure-track faculty from historically underrepresented groups and — backed by
record-level SPH fundraising — brought to campus as faculty and new public
health scholars and leaders from a diverse array of professional backgrounds.
Provost
Richard M. Locke said Brown will build on that momentum during Jha’s time at
the White House, continuing to cultivate and direct resources for faculty
recruitment and retention, student financial aid, facilities and academic
program development.
“Ashish
Jha has built on a foundation of early progress from the School of Public
Health’s first decade, growing its focus on tackling the most important issues
in health policy and practice, devising new ways to expand the accessibility of
Brown’s public health degrees and expanding the school’s reputation
exponentially,” Locke said. “As he heads to the White House to play an
important role in the continued challenge of COVID-19, we look forward to
building further on that momentum before we welcome him back.”
Throughout
this pandemic, we have worked at Brown to improve public understanding and
information, and inform policy at every level of government here and around the
globe. I am honored to accept President Biden’s invitation and do so confident
that the School of Public Health will advance around critical issues including
pandemic preparedness and key initiatives we have launched and are growing, to
improve understanding and policy in key public health issues, and train the
next generation of public health leaders.
When
Jha arrived at Brown, he made it clear that research, education and practice
focused on addressing health inequities would be among the central organizing
principles of the School of Public Health, and he has implemented strategies to
expand diversity among health professionals. In 2020-21, SPH launched the
Health Equity Scholars program with the goal of preparing MPH students from
historically Black colleges and universities to address health disparities and
become transformative leaders in public health careers. In the past year,
applications to SPH programs from prospective students of color increased by
150%. And under Jha’s leadership, the school established a need-based financial
aid policy for students seeking a master in public health degree.
To
expand the ranks of public health leaders across the globe equipped with the
knowledge and skills to take on urgent health challenges, Brown launched a
fully online MPH program accepting applicants for Fall 2022. Jha also committed
to double the number of tenure-track faculty from historically underrepresented
groups in the next five years, achieving a 60% increase in the last year alone.
Dr.
Megan Ranney, academic dean of the School of Public Health and another national
leader for analysis and advice on the COVID-19 pandemic, said Jha will head to
the White House having established an outstanding team of academic and
administrative leaders, a burgeoning set of new academic initiatives, and a
commitment to student support that will persist as he steps away temporarily
for the short-term assignment.
“We
have a strong, dedicated team to fuel continued leadership and progress on key
public health issues and challenges, including and beyond the pandemic,” Ranney
said. “We proudly endorse President Biden’s decision and welcome Ashish’s
national and global leadership.”
In
the coming days, Locke expects to announce an interim dean to lead the School
of Public Health’s strong leadership team to implement the priorities of the
School during Jha’s short-term assignment to the White House.
“This
is a moment of extraordinary opportunity for the Brown School of Public Health
that brings even greater visibility to the groundbreaking work of our faculty,
staff and students,” Locke said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to ensure
that the foundation that Dr. Jha has built continues to stand strong, and that
we continue as an academic community to pursue new goals in support of our
students, our scholarship and our commitment to serving the nation and the
world.”
About
Dr. Ashish K. Jha
An
accomplished physician, health policy researcher and global health advocate,
Jha began his tenure as dean of the Brown University School of Public Health in
September 2020. He joined the University after leading the Harvard Global Health
Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and
Harvard Medical School. A general internist who practiced previously with the
West Roxbury V.A. in Massachusetts, he had continued his practice at the
Providence V.A. Medical Center. Jha has led groundbreaking research around
Ebola and is now on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response, leading national
and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy
makers.
Jha
was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India, in 1970. He moved to Canada in 1979 and
then to the United States in 1983. Jha earned a bachelor’s degree in economics
from Columbia University in 1992 and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School in
1997, before training in internal medicine at the University of California in
San Francisco. He completed his general medicine fellowship at Brigham
& Women’s Hospital at Harvard Medical School and received his master of
public health in 2004 from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
With
sponsored funding from sources such as the National Institutes of Health, the
Gates Foundation, the Climate Change Solutions Fund and the Commonwealth Fund,
Jha’s research focuses on improving the quality of health care systems with a
specialized focus on how national policies impact care. He has led some of the
seminal work comparing the performance of the U.S. health system to those of
other high-income countries to better understand why the U.S. spends more but
often achieves less in population health.
Jha
co-chaired an international commission that examined the global response to the
Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014 and what could be done to strengthen the
approach to pandemic preparedness and response. He has written extensively on
the importance of international agencies like the World Health Organization and
how they can be made more effective in infectious disease outbreaks like Ebola,
Zika and now COVID-19.
He
has published more than 200 empirical papers and writes regularly about ways to
improve health care systems, both in the U.S. and globally. In addition to
his academic appointments at Brown and Harvard, he has served in a number of
roles at the federal level, including as special assistant to the secretary in
the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2013.
Jha
was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.
