‘By P. Sarojini’
      NEW DELHI, India (CWBN)_ US President-elect Joe Biden has announced his COVID-19 task force. This task force is said to be his first step towards battling the pandemic that has already killed more than 242,000 Americans. US being worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic with nearly 10 million COVID 19 cases, the new President initiated his work from the healthcare sector.
      The Covid-19 Advisory Board declared by Biden includes two Indian-American surgeons, Dr Vivek Murthy and Dr Atul Gawande. The transition board will be led by the former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and co-chaired by Dr. David Kessler and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith. The board comprises a team of leading public health experts who will advise and assist President-elect Biden, Vice President-elect Harris, and the transition’s Covid-19 staff.
      Dr Murthy is an Indian-American doctor originally from Karnataka. From 2014- 2017, he served as the 19th Surgeon General of the United States. Dr Murthy also served as the Vice-Admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, where he commanded a uniformed service of 6,600 public health officers globally, who aim at helping the underserved populations, protecting the country from Ebola and Zika viruses, responding to the Flint water crisis, and natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes and floods and famines.
      Another Indian-American doctor in the Covid-19 Advisory Board is the surgeon and award-winning author Dr Gawande who hails from Maharashtra. During the Clinton Administration, he served as a senior advisor in the Department of Health and Human Services.
      Dr Gawande is the Cyndy and John Fish Distinguished Professor of Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Samuel O. Thier Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Dr Gawande is also the founder and chair of Ariadne Labs and of Lifebox, which is a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally.
      The Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board comprises a diverse and experienced group of doctors and scientists, who have served in previous administrations in nationwide and worldwide public health crises.
      Biden declared in a press conference from Delaware saying “I’ve named the Covid-19 Transition Advisory Board comprised of distinguished public health experts to help our transition team translate the Biden-Harris Covid-19 plan into action”. He added, “A blueprint that we can put in place as soon as Kamala and I are sworn into office on January 20th, 2021. And we will seek to add other members to this board to bring additional important perspective on public health and expertise throughout the transition”.
      It was said that Dr Beth Cameron and Dr Rebecca Katz will serve as advisors to the Transition on COVID-19 and will also work closely with the Advisory Board.
    Apart from Dr Gawande, other distinguished members of the Board include Dr Luciana Borio, Dr Rick Bright, Dr Ezekiel Emanuel, Dr Celine Gounder, Dr Julie Morita, Dr Michael Osterholm, Ms Loyce Pace, Dr Robert Rodriguez, and Dr Eric Goosby.
      A statement from the transition team said, “President-elect Biden has pledged to bring leadership to the COVID pandemic, which continues to claim thousands of lives each week, by curbing the spread of the disease, providing free treatment to those in need, and elevating the voices of scientists and public health experts”.
Edited by Elishya Perera
