Biden nominates Indian-American Atul Gawande to senior post at USAID

US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-American surgeon, author and public health researcher Atul Gawande, to a senior leadership position in the US Agency for International Development (USAID). If confirmed by the US senate, Gawande would serve as the assistant administrator of USAID's Bureau for Global Health.

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Tweeting about being considered for the job, Gawande said, with more Covid deaths worldwide in the first half of 2021 than in all of 2020, he was grateful for the chance to help end this crisis and to re-strengthen public health systems worldwide.

His role at USAID will focus on efforts to prevent child and maternal deaths, control the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and combat infectious diseases, such as Covid-19.

Gawande is the author of four New York Times best-selling books. He is a professor at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School and the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.