Originally posted on UW News
Ali Mokdad has been named the chief strategy officer for Population Health at the University of Washington, President Ana Mari Cauce announced today. In this new role he will be responsible for collaboratively setting and executing the UW’s vision and strategy for the Population Health Initiative, a 25-year effort to create a world where all people can live healthier and more fulfilling lives.
Mokdad’s appointment will begin July 1 and will be part time, allowing him to continue his work as a professor of global health and director of Middle Eastern Initiatives at the UW’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Mokdad has served as vice chair of the Population Health Initiative since the inception of its executive council in July 2016.
Mokdad will advance the UW’s longstanding excellence in a multitude of disciplines that contribute to population health, reporting directly to President Cauce and working collaboratively with the provost and others at the UW. Mokdad also will lead efforts to identify, pursue, and secure the external partners and funding necessary to support the Population Health Initiative.“Ali Mokdad is a convener and a visionary who is respected internationally, locally and among his colleagues here at the UW for his ability to bring together great minds and ideas,” Cauce said. “He has done fabulous work supporting the development of a strong foundation for the Population Health Initiative and I am excited to support his leadership in this new role.”
“I am both honored and humbled by this opportunity to help improve the lives and livelihoods of people throughout the world,” Mokdad said. “I look forward to collaborating with colleagues at the UW and others in the academic, non-profit, and corporate sectors on this vital and extraordinary endeavor.”
Prior to joining IHME, Mokdad worked at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), starting his career there in 1990. Mokdad has published more than 450 articles and numerous reports. He has received several awards, including the Global Health Achievement Award for his work in Banda Aceh after the tsunami, the Department of Health and Human Services Honor Award for his work on flu monitoring, and the Shepard Award for outstanding scientific contribution to public health for his work on the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS). He received his bachelor of science in biostatistics from the American University of Beirut and his doctor of philosophy in quantitative epidemiology from Emory University.
The UW’s Population Health Initiative revolves around three major pillars — human health, environmental resilience, and social and economic equity. Through the initiative, the UW engages and leads stakeholders from across the university, the region, the nation and the world to address all of the intersecting and overlapping factors that influence population health. Over the next quarter century, the initiative will expand the UW’s ability to turn the diagnosis of patients, populations and the planet into actionable policies, reforms, interventions and innovations.
In its first two years, the initiative has launched multiple projects, including undergraduate courses and faculty research grants, developed new external partnerships and started construction on a facility funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the State of Washington that will act as a convening space for all of the disciplines working to improve population health. More information is available at uw.edu/populationhealth.