White House COVID-19 response coordinator Jeff Zients is leaving his post at the helm of the administration’s virus response effort, and Ashish Jha, the dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, will replace him as the U.S. navigates a new phase of the pandemic, the White House said Thursday.
Jha’s role coordinating the pandemic response signifies a shift to a more endemic phase of the pandemic. Zients is a rapid response communications expert with experience handling crisis situations, whereas Jha is a respected physician and public health expert who has been studying pandemic policy and briefing reporters on COVID-19 throughout the pandemic.
“As COVID enters a phase where it becomes a persistent risk requiring a new public health footing, Dr. Ashish Jha has the broad clinical expertise, and deft touch in addressing public health needs, to galvanize shared action and shape that future,” former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said of the transition in leadership.
