Kaiser Permanente’s Choucair to Join Biden Administration as Vaccinations Coordinator
On Dec. 29, President-elect Joe Biden added several members to his White House COVID-19 Response team, including coordinators for three aspects of the COVID-19 response strategy: supply chain management, vaccinations and testing.
Among the highest-profile of the new appointments is Bechara Choucair, M.D., as vaccinations coordinator. A family physician by training, Choucair currently serves as senior vice president and chief health officer for Kaiser Permanente. Previously he was Chicago’s public health commissioner from 2009 to 2014.
At Kaiser Permanente, he led the efforts to connect healthcare and social services providers to address members' pressing social needs, including housing, food, safety, and transportation. As chief health officer, he was also accountable for the care of over 1 million Kaiser Permanente Medicaid members and those who are dually enrolled in Medicaid and Medicare. He was in charge of the organization’s Environmental Stewardship work, including the commitment for KP to become carbon neutral in 2020. He managed Kaiser Permanente’s community health portfolio, including $3.4 billion dedicated to supporting medical financial assistance and charitable care as well as grants and community health initiatives.
As vaccinations coordinator, he will focus on making sure vaccines turn into vaccinations by coordinating the timely, safe, and equitable delivery of COVID-19 vaccinations for the U.S. population, in close partnership with relevant federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local authorities.
“It’s an honor to join the Biden administration as White House COVID-19 Vaccinations Coordinator during this pivotal moment in the pandemic,” Choucair said on Twitter. “I’m humbled to be part of the team working to ensure an efficient, equitable, and effective roll-out.
Tim Manning, the former deputy administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency for Protection and National Preparedness, during the Obama Administration, is the new supply coordinator. He will coordinate the federal effort focused on securing, strengthening, and ensuring a sustainable pandemic supply chain, working with departments and agencies to ensure there is sufficient PPE, tests, vaccines, and related supplies and equipment. Since leaving the federal government in 2017, he has been an advisor and executive with the Pacific Disaster Center, a global applied research center managed by the University of Hawaii, and has served on the faculty of the Disaster and Emergency Management studies program at Georgetown University.
Carole Johnson is the new testing coordinator.
She is currently commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Human Services. She previously served as the Domestic Policy Council public health lead in the Obama White House, including during the Ebola and Zika responses. She will coordinate the federal effort to expand COVID-19 testing and the use of testing for an effective public health response, with an emphasis on expanding and targeting testing for schools, nursing homes, other at-risk populations, and communities hardest hit by the pandemic. She will chair the National Pandemic Testing Board, which will work to ensure equitable test allocation, identify bottlenecks, and overcome barriers to access.
Another new appointee is Sonya Bernstein as COVID senior policy advisor. She is working as an advisor for COVID-19 on the Biden-Harris Transition. Prior to joining the transition, she served as assistant vice president at NYC Health + Hospitals, the nation’s largest municipal public health care system. Bernstein served as assistant secretary for health & economic policy for the State of New York. Prior to that, she served as deputy chief of staff and special advisor to Secretary Sylvia M. Burwell at the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
In addition, Eduardo Cisneros has been named COVID intergovernmental affairs director. He currently serves as director of civic engagement, government relations at AltaMed Health Services, one of the nation’s largest Federally Qualified Health Centers.
