Demetre Daskalakis

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Demetre Daskalakis
Demetre Daskalakis Portrait 2021 001 small.jpg
Born1972or1973(age 51–52)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
Education Columbia University (BS)
New York University (MD)
Harvard University (MPH)
Medical career
ProfessionInfectious disease physician
InstitutionsNew York City Department of Health, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (resigned prior to termination)

Demetre Costas Daskalakis (born 1972/1973) [1] is an American infectious disease physician and gay health activist who served in leadership roles at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) from 2020 to 2025. At the CDC, he was director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD) and was previously director of the Division of HIV Prevention at the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention. [2] [3] During the administration of Joe Biden, he was appointed deputy coordinator of the White House's mpox response to the 2022–2023 outbreak of the disease.

Contents

Early life and education

Daskalakis was born in Washington, D.C., to Greek parents [4] and raised in Arlington, Virginia. [5] He entered Columbia University in 1991 and earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1995. [6] [7] He recalls becoming interested in AIDS during his senior year at Columbia University, when he was given the task to fly the AIDS Memorial Quilt as part of a student campaign to raise awareness of AIDS. [5] [8]

He then received his medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine [5] [8] and completed postgraduate medical training at Harvard Medical School in 2003. [6] He completed his residency at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in 2003. [9] [10] He completed a Clinical Infectious Disease fellowship at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital's combined program. [9] [10] Daskalakis earned board certification in Internal Medicine in 2002 and became board certified in Infectious Disease in 2005. [11] In 2012, he earned a Master of Public Health from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. [6]

Career

Daskalakis worked at Mount Sinai Hospital in Brooklyn, where at one time he held the position of medical director of ambulatory HIV services. [8] He was also an assistant professor at New York University. [12] His work with the Men's Sexual Health Project, which he founded in 2006, involved work in sex clubs and bathhouses to test men for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, and direct them to care. [8]

Daskalakis joined the New York City Department of Health in 2013. [13] During a 2012-2013 meningitis outbreak in the city, Daskalakis opened a pop-up clinic as part of a vaccination campaign targeting at-risk groups, such as men who had sex with men, and was credited with halting it. [14] By 2014, he was deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. [15]

Daskalakis was a member of governor Andrew Cuomo's Ending the Epidemic Task Force, an effort to decrease HIV transmission rates in New York City. [16] Since joining the city's health department, he has promoted the concept of "status-neutral care", a strategy for HIV treatment and prevention which takes the same approach to initial patient care regardless of the patient's HIV status. [13] The concept was part of the plan for the Ending the Epidemic campaign. [16] [17] [ non-primary source needed ]

Starting on December 21, 2020, he served as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Director of the Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention, [10] [18] later renamed the Division of HIV Prevention in October 2021. [3] On August 2, 2022, President Joe Biden appointed him as the White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator to respond to the 2022–2023 outbreak of the disease. [19] [20]

Daskalakis was subsequently appointed director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD). [2] During the second Trump administration, his office's windows were pierced by bullets in the 2025 shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention headquarters, though he was not inside his office at the time. [21]

In August 2025, following news of CDC director Susan Monarez's ouster by the Trump administration, Daskalakis resigned alongside at least three other CDC senior officials. [22] [23] [24] Daskalakis told the Associated Press that he "came to the point" where he thought "our science will be compromised", describing that as "[his] line in the sand." [25] In an interview the following day with The Advocate , he said, "The CDC you knew is over" and "Unless someone takes radical action, there is nothing there that can be salvaged." [26]

Personal life

Daskalakis is gay. [6] He met his husband, Michael Macneal, at Macneal's gym, Monster Cycle. [5] [27] [28]

Daskalakis attended a Greek Orthodox church in Washington, D.C., while growing up. He has explained that a large tattoo of Jesus on his stomach was inspired by the church. [12]

References

  1. ↑ Fitzsimons, Tim (December 1, 2018). "Meet the 'Radical Gay Doctor' behind NYC's Falling HIV Rate". NBC News . Retrieved November 18, 2022.
  2. 1 2 "National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD)". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . January 19, 2024. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  3. 1 2 Daskalakis, Demetre; Mermin, Jonathan (October 4, 2021). "Introducing the new CDC Division of HIV Prevention Organizational Structure". HIV.gov. Archived from the original on October 4, 2021. Retrieved November 16, 2024.
  4. ↑ Chrysopoulos, Philip (November 19, 2021). "Demetre Daskalakis, The Greek-American Doctor Fighting to End HIV Transmission". Greek Reporter . Retrieved September 30, 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Krisch, Joshua A. (July 27, 2014). "New York City's 'Gay Health Warrior'". The Atlantic . Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Sim, Bernardo (September 8, 2022). "Meet Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the CDC's Out & Proud Health Expert". Out . Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Demetre Daskalakis CC'95 Changes the City's Approach to H.I.V./AIDS". Columbia College Alumni Association. August 11, 2014. Retrieved September 19, 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Hartocollis, Anemona (July 22, 2014). "Credibility Among Gay Men Gives Leverage to New York City's New Chief of H.I.V. Prevention". The New York Times . Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  9. 1 2 "Demetre Daskalakis Assistant Commissioner of the Bureau of HIV Prevention and Control of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene". Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College.
  10. 1 2 3 "Director of Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention Announcement". Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. November 17, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  11. ↑ "Demetre Daskalakis". Certification Matters. American Board of Medical Specialties. Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  12. 1 2 Daniels, Eugene (September 15, 2022). "Biden's monkeypox adviser is trying manage a virus while dodging talk of Satanism". Politico . Retrieved September 16, 2022.
  13. 1 2 Fitzsimons, Tim (December 1, 2018). "Meet the 'radical gay doctor' behind NYC's falling HIV rate". NBC News . Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  14. ↑ Hartocollis, Anemona (August 14, 2013). "Vaccination Appears to Have Halted a Meningitis Outbreak". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  15. ↑ Holpuch, Amanda (August 7, 2016). "New York's 'queer health warrior': city official funds grassroots fight against HIV". The Guardian . Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  16. 1 2 "NYSDOH 2015 Blueprint on Ending the AIDS Epidemic" (PDF).
  17. ↑ Daskalakis, Demetre. "HIV prevention and care are part of public health" (PDF).
  18. ↑ Broverman, Neal (February 24, 2021). "Meet Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Biden's New Weapon Against HIV". HIVPlusMag.com. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  19. ↑ "President Biden Announces Team to Lead Monkeypox Response" (Press release). White House. August 2, 2022. Retrieved September 9, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Biden names U.S. monkeypox coordinators as more states cite emergencies". Reuters . August 2, 2022. Retrieved September 10, 2022.
  21. ↑ Mandavilli, Apoorva (August 9, 2025). "After Years of Anger Directed at C.D.C., Shooting Manifests Worst Fears". The New York Times . Retrieved August 10, 2025.
  22. ↑ Payne, Daniel; Cirruzzo, Chelsea; Cooney, Elizabeth (August 27, 2025). "CDC Director Susan Monarez is ousted as her lawyer says 'she will not resign'". Stat . Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  23. ↑ Sun, Lena H.; Diamond, Dan; Weber, Lauren (August 27, 2025). "CDC director ousted, top officials resign after RFK Jr. push to change vaccine policy". The Washington Post . Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  24. ↑ Constantino, Annakin Kim (August 27, 2025). "CDC Director Susan Monarez ousted, four other leaders quit health agency". CNBC . Retrieved August 27, 2025.
  25. ↑ Stobbe, Mike (August 28, 2025). "Departing CDC staff say Susan Monarez's firing was the final straw". Associated Press . Retrieved August 28, 2025.
  26. ↑ Wiggins, Christopher (August 29, 2025). "RFK Jr.'s damage to the CDC is 'past the point of no return,' Dr. Demetre Daskalakis warns". The Advocate . Retrieved August 29, 2025.
  27. ↑ Devash, Meirav (January 2, 2015). "Where goths and gym rats meet to get fit". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved September 11, 2022.
  28. ↑ "The Gaga Connection". Out . January 18, 2012. Retrieved September 11, 2022.
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