Who Is Dr Ashish Jha, The New White House Covid-19 Coordinator?

Ashish Jha Profile: Ashish Jha was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, in 1970. He moved to Canada in 1979 and then to the United States in 1983.

Ashish Jha is currently the dean of Brown University's School of Public Health (Getty Images)

New Delhi: Indian-American Dr Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, was named the new White House Covid-19 response coordinator on Thursday by US President Joe Biden.

Jha will lead the response of the US government to the Covid-19 pandemic, while also advancing the nation's global health priorities and policies, Brown University reported. He will take over the role from April 5, 2022.

READ | Indian-American Dr Ashish Jha Named New White House Covid Response Coordinator

Who Is Dr Ashish Jha?

Ashish Jha was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, in 1970. He moved to Canada in 1979 and then to the United States in 1983.

Jha completed his bachelor's in economics from Columbia University in 1992 and his MD from Harvard Medical School in 1997, the Brown University website said. He did his training in internal medicine at the University of California in San Francisco.

Dr Jha is a specialist in internal diseases. Jha was elected as a member of the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.

In 2014, Dr Jha was a co-chair of an international commission on the global response to the Ebola outbreak. 

Apart from his academic appointments, he has served as special assistant to the secretary in the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2013. 

He was appointed to lead the School of Public Health in February 2020, the Brown University website said.

Interaction With Rahul Gandhi On Covid-19

During the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacted with Dr Ashish Jha in May 2020.

During the video interaction, Ashish Jha said the Covid-19 pandemic won't be the last pandemic of our times.

"We are entering an age of pandemics. I am confident that this is not the last large global pandemic you and I are going to see in the next 20 years," Jha said.

Jha said in an era of globalisation, any virus would spread very quickly.

"All this economic growth is great for lifting people out of poverty… but has also led to deforestation, encroachment into areas where there are more animals. Most diseases come from animals to humans," Jha had said.