Salman Khan, MEng, MBA

Founder and CEO of Khan Academy; CEO of Schoolhouse.world; Founder of Khan Lab School

Sal Khan is a leading educator and the founder of Khan Academy which has a mission of providing a free world-class education for anyone, anywhere. Today millions of students, parents, and teachers use the Khan Academy's software and thousands of free videos, which have expanded to encompass nearly every conceivable subject. Khan Academy techniques are being employed with exciting results in a growing number of classrooms around the globe. As of May 2022, the Khan Academy channel on YouTube has 7.25 million subscribers, and its videos have been viewed almost 2 billion times.

Like many innovators, Sal Khan rethinks existing assumptions and imagines what education could be if freed from them. His core idea - liberating teachers from lecturing and state-mandated calendars and opening up class time for truly human interaction - has become his life's passion. Schools around the world seek his advice about connecting to students in a digital age, and people of all ages and backgrounds flock to the Khan Academy site to utilize its fresh approach to learning.

Mr. Khan is also the founder of Khan Lab School, a private school in Mountain View, California. He is also the CEO of Schoolhouse.world, a platform for free, peer-to-peer tutoring where anyone, anywhere can receive live help, build their skills, and pay it forward by becoming a tutor themselves.

In 2012, Time named Sal Khan in its annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Mr. Khan received three degrees from MIT and an MBA from Harvard University.

Deborah Birx, MD

White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator (2020-2021); Senior Fellow of the George W. Bush Presidential Center; Former CDC Director of the Division of Global HIV/AIDS, Detailee to U.S. State Department, and White House and Special Advisor

As a world renowned medical expert and leader, Dr. Deborah Birx has focused her work on clinical and basic immunology, infectious disease, pandemic preparedness, vaccine research, and global health. Most recently, Dr. Birx served as the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator, where she used complex data integration to drive decision making, and worked closely with state officials across the country to provide state-specific advice and guidance. In 2014, Dr. Birx became an Ambassador-at-Large, when she assumed the role of the Coordinator of the United States Government Activities to Combat HIV/AIDS and U.S. Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. As the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, she oversaw the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the largest commitment by any nation to combat a single disease in history, as well as all U.S. Government engagement with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

In 1985, Dr. Birx began her career with the Department of Defense (DoD) as a military trained clinician in immunology, focusing on HIV/AIDS vaccine research. Through her professionalism and leadership in the field, she progressed to serve as the Director of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research from 1996-2005. Dr. Birx led RV 144, or the Thai trial, one of the most influential HIV vaccine trials in history, which provided the first supporting evidence of any vaccine’s potential effectiveness in preventing HIV infection. During this time, she also rose to the rank of Colonel, bringing together the Navy, Army, and Air Force in a new model of cooperation -- increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. Military’s HIV/AIDS efforts through inter- and intra-agency collaboration. Then known as Colonel Birx, she was awarded two prestigious U.S. Meritorious Service Medals and the Legion of Merit Award for her groundbreaking research, leadership and management skills.

From 2005-2014, Dr. Birx served successfully as the Director of CDC's Division of Global HIV/AIDS (DGHA), where she utilized her leadership qualities, superior technical skills, and infectious passion to achieve tremendous public health impact. As DGHA Director, she led the implementation of CDC’s PEPFAR programs around the world and managed an annual budget of more than $1.5 billion. Dr. Birx was responsible for all of the agency's global HIV/AIDS activities, including to the oversight of more than 1900 staff, and more than 50 country and regional offices in Africa, Asia, Caribbean, and Latin America. In 2011, Dr. Birx received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the African Society for Laboratory Medicine for her distinguished and dedicated commitment to building local capacity and strengthening quality laboratory health services and systems in Africa. In 2014, CDC honored her leadership in advancing the agency’s HIV/AIDS response with the highly prestigious William C. Watson, Jr. Medal of Excellence.

Dr. Birx is known for driving implementation improvements to increase impact and has spent a career increasing overall effectiveness of programs through change management. Dr. Birx has published over 230 manuscripts in peer-reviewed journals, authored nearly a dozen chapters in scientific publications, and has developed and patented vaccines. She received her medical degree from the Hershey School of Medicine, Pennsylvania State University, and she trained in internal medicine and basic and clinical immunology at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Birx is board certified in internal medicine, allergy and immunology, and diagnostic and clinical laboratory immunology.

Thomas Quinn, MD, MSc

Founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health; NIH Distinguished Investigator; Associate Director of International Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID); Chief of the International HIV/STD Section in the NIAID Laboratory of Immunoregulation; Professor of Medicine and Pathology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine; Professor of Epidemiology, International Health, Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health; Professor of Nursing in The Johns Hopkins School of Nursing

Dr. Thomas Quinn is professor of medicine and pathology in the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and professor of international health, epidemiology, and molecular microbiology and immunology in The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and professor of nursing in the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing. In 2006 he was appointed founding Director of the Johns Hopkins University Center for Global Health. He serves as advisor/consultant on HIV and STDs to the World Health Organization, Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (PEPFAR), UNAIDS, and the FDA.

He serves as Associate Director for International Research at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a fellow of the Infectious Diseases Society of America and a member of the American Association of Physicians. He is an author of over 900 publications on HIV, STDs, and infectious diseases, and serves on multiple editorial boards.

Among his professional activities, Dr. Quinn is an alternate member of the Technical Panel of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis and has been on Advisor/Consultant on HIV and STDs to the World Health Organization, UNAIDS, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. In October 2004 he received membership in the Institute of Medicine.

JOSHUA SHARFSTEIN, MD

Vice Dean for Public Health Practice & Community Engagement and Professor of the Practice in Health Policy and Management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health; Former Principal Deputy Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); Director of the Bloomberg American Health Initiative; Former Secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

Dr. Joshua Sharfstein works to develop and promote public health strategies, healthcare payment approaches, and regulatory policies that advance health and equity.

Early in his career, Dr. Sharfstein served as health policy advisor to Congressman Henry A. Waxman. Among the issues he worked on were HIV/AIDS, oversight of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), tobacco, and public health.

After the election of President Barack Obama in 2008, Sharfstein served as leader of the Obama transition team on the FDA. In 2009, he was appointed by President Obama as Principal Deputy Commissioner of the FDA.

Dr. Sharfstein, whose early work in politics included work for Public Citizen’s Health Watch, has been a frequent critic of drug industry marketing practices—going all the way back to his days in medical training. During his time as public health commissioner of Baltimore, he led the effort to restrict the marketing of pediatric cold remedies.

Sharfstein has also written articles criticizing the American Medical Association for its pattern of giving campaign contributions to political candidates that take stands the majority of physicians oppose. One of those articles focused on AMA donations to candidates and elected officials who have fought the regulation of tobacco—a position the medical community generally favors and that Dr. Sharfstein has advocated over the years.

He has also come under the ire of anti-vaccine groups because, consistent with the advice of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the vast majority of medical professionals, he has been an ardent supporter of vaccines as an essential part of public health.

Dr. Sharfstein is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Public Administration.

Cassandra Crifasi, PhD, MPH

Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management, Deputy Director of the Center for Gun Violence Prevention and Policy, and Core Faculty Member in the Center for Injury Research and Policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health

Dr. Crifasi studies how evidence-based policies and programs can reduce violence and advance equity. Her research focuses broadly on public safety including injury epidemiology and prevention, gun violence and policy, attitudes and behaviors of gun owners, and underground gun markets. She has worked on a number of projects evaluating the impact of public health, law enforcement, and place-based strategies to reduce violence. Additionally, she teaches a course on research and evaluation methods for health policy. Dr. Crifasi earned an MPH in Environmental and Occupational Health from the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University and a PhD in Health Policy and Management from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Jeremy Shiffman, PhD, MA

Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University

Dr. Shiffman is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of International Health and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). A political scientist by training, his research focuses on the politics of health policy processes in low-income countries and in global governance.

His research has been funded by the Gates, MacArthur, Rockefeller and Open Societies Foundations, among other organizations. His work has appeared in multiple journals, including The Lancet and The American Journal of Public Health. He received the Gary and Stacey Jacobs Award for excellence in health policy research. He has served on multiple technical advisory committees for organizations working in global health, and is on the editorial board of several health policy journals. Across his career, he has received six awards for excellence in teaching. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins University, he was on the faculty of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and American University’s School of Public Affairs, where he was named Scholar-Teacher of the Year in 2017. He received a BA from Yale University in philosophy, an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS in international relations, and a PhD from the University of Michigan in political science.

Anna Kalbarczyk, DrPH, MPH

Assistant Scientist in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Department of International Health Division of Global Disease Epidemiology and Control; Assistant Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

Dr. Kalbarczyk is an implementation scientist and gender specialist with extensive experience in international settings. As the Assistant Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health (CGH) she oversees all program operations and strategic initiatives. Her work and interests include promoting women's leadership, conducting implementation research, incorporating intersectional and gender lenses into research and dissemination, institutional capacity strengthening, and knowledge translation for policy makers. She specializes in developing and evaluating global health training programs across the continuum of education with an emphasis on leadership, cultural competency, and ethical engagement.

Dr. Kalbarczyk received her DrPH in Implementation Science from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, her MPH from George Washington University and a BA in Public Policy (Health & Economics) from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

She has international working experience in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Pakistan and South Africa. 

Robert Bollinger, MD, MPH

Raj and Kamla Gupta Professor of Infectious Diseases at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Founding Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Clinical Global Health Education; Director of the JHU Fogarty India Program; Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health

Dr. Bollinger holds joint appointments in International Health at the Johns Hopkins (JH) Bloomberg School of Public Health, and in Community Public Health at the JH School of Nursing. He is Founding Director of the Center for Clinical Global Health Education (CCGHE), Director of the JHU Fogarty India Program, and Associate Director for Medicine of the JH Center for Global Health. He is board certified by the American Board of Internal Medicine in internal medicine and infectious diseases.

Dr. Bollinger has more than 39 years of experience in international public health, clinical research, and education dealing with such global health priorities as HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis, leprosy, dengue, antibiotic resistant infections and other emerging diseases. He is also author of more than 190 peer-reviewed research publications and 15 book chapters, including the first and largest studies of risk factors for HIV transmission in India, the cloning and sequencing of the first HIV viruses from India, the only studies characterizing the primary immune response to HIV in India, and the demonstration of increased risk of HIV acquisition with recent HSV infection and lack of circumcision.