Jha became dean of the school in 2020 before taking a temporary assignment in April as White House COVID-19 response coordinator. He comes to his current job as a widely regarded expert on pandemic preparedness and response. In May, with the pandemic at “an inflection point,” he said one key to managing the spread was making the Food and Drug Administration-approved Paxlovid—a drug that can slash hospitalizations by more than 90%—more widely available through a federal pharmacy channel and at federal testing sites that can treat patients who test positive. Jha conducted influential research on Ebola, and he has published more than 200 research papers in prominent publications such as the New England Journal of Medicine and the BMJ.