Dr Jeffrey Koplan

Dr Koplan is Vice President for Academic Health Affairs at Emory University. He was formerly Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), a post he held from 1998 to 2002.

He started his 26-year public health service and CDC career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer in 1972, working in the World Health Organization (WHO) Smallpox Eradication Programme. He has made contributions in the battle against the major burdens of infectious disease, environmental hazards, chronic disease and unintentional injuries. From 1989 to 1994, Dr Koplan served as Assistant Surgeon General and the first director of the CDC's National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. From 1994 to 1998, he was director and president of the Prudential Center for Health Care Research which conducts health services and outcomes research.

Dr Koplan regularly serves as a consultant to the World Bank and the WHO on public health programs. He has worked in Finland on cardiovascular programs, consulted on infectious and chronic disease issue in China for over 20 years, and designed efforts to prevent chronic disease in Hungary. In 1984, he led the US team investigating the Bhopal chemical disaster in India. He was also responsible for developing surveillance and epidemic investigation capability in ten Caribbean nations while based in Trinidad and Tobago.

Dr Koplan is also very active in public service in the US. He was Chairman of the Public Health Service Executive Committee on AIDS from 1982 to 1984, a member of the advisory committee to the CEO of the American Cancer Society and was on the Advisory Board of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the lead agency charged with sponsoring and conducting research designed to improve the quality of healthcare).