WASHINGTON, October 2, 2017: The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) today announces the establishment of a Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security. The Commission, led by the CSIS Global Health Policy Center and the CSIS International Security Program, will bring together a distinguished and diverse group of leaders who bridge the health and security fields—drawing from Congress, past administrations, industry, foundations, universities, and nongovernmental organizations—to chart a bold vision for the future of U.S. leadership in global health security.
The Commission, launching in February 2018, offers an opportunity to build a pragmatic, bipartisan consensus at a time of urgent need. The Commission is made possible by the generous support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as the centerpiece of its new three-year grant commitment to CSIS.
Events in recent years have demonstrated the growing importance of health security to U.S. national security interests, both at home and abroad, and the need for a stronger, more coherent, better integrated and resourced, and more reliably sustained U.S. approach. This has included responding to emerging infectious disease threats like Ebola and Zika, mitigating risks associated with rapid advances in biotechnology, protecting health workers and facilities across a range of new and chronic conflict zones throughout much of the Middle East and Africa, and bolstering global capacities to prevent the next pandemic.
The Commission will be codirected by J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president and director of the CSIS Global Health Policy Center, and Rebecca Hersman, director of the CSIS Project on Nuclear Issues and senior adviser in the CSIS International Security Program. It will maintain highly active relations with the administration and assemble an advisory group of subject experts who will join the deliberations and help guide the Commission’s work. More information on the Commission, Commission members, and activities will follow later this year.