Scott Dowell, MD, MPH

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, USA

Scott F. Dowell, a pediatric infectious disease specialist by training, now focuses on tracking the causes of global childhood mortality for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  He joined the foundation after 21 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he studied viral and bacterial pneumonia, and responded to outbreaks of Ebola and other pathogens.  He established and directed the International Emerging Infections Program in Thailand, a collaboration that received accolades from both the Thai and U.S. governments for its prominent role in responding to the SARS crisis, and for its leadership in defining the response to avian influenza A (H5N1) in Southeast Asia.  He led CDC’s response to the earthquake and cholera epidemic in Haiti, helping to rebuild the public health infrastructure and contributing to the saving of an estimated 7,000 lives.  Dr. Dowell served as the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for International Health Regulations and the Division of Global Disease Detection and Emergency Response, and established the agency’s Global Health Security Agenda.  In 2014, he retired from the US Public Health Service at the rank of Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General.  Dr. Dowell has co-authored more than 170 publications and has a special interest in targeted reductions in childhood mortality.