Andrew M. Slavitt is an American businessman and healthcare advisor who served as the acting administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services from March 2015 to January 2017 and as a temporary Senior Advisor to the COVID-19 Response Coordinator in the Biden administration. A leader of the team that helped to repair the healthcare.gov website after its initial rollout, he was nominated by Barack Obama to run CMS in July 2015. In January 2021, Slavitt accepted a temporary role as Senior Pandemic Advisor to President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response team. He stepped down from that role in June 2021.
Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) is an independent philanthropic foundation formed as a "health conversion foundation" in February 2000, following Blue Cross Blue Shield Association of Missouri's transformation from a nonprofit to for-profit company. Federal law requires that proceeds from the sale of tax-exempt entities be directed toward charitable purposes. Using those proceeds, the Foundation was charged with "identifying and filling the gaps in the myriad of public and private health care services already available to the uninsured, the underinsured and the underserved in the 84 counties plus the City of St. Louis."
Frederica M. Williams, MBA, FCIS has served as the president and CEO of Whittier Street Health Center in Boston, Massachusetts since 2002.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force was the United States Department of State task force during the Trump administration that "coordinate[d] and overs[aw] the administration's efforts to monitor, prevent, contain, and mitigate the spread" of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Also referred to as the President's Coronavirus Task Force, it was established on January 29, 2020, with Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar as chair. On February 26, 2020, U.S. vice president Mike Pence was named to chair the task force, and Deborah Birx was named the response coordinator.
The federal government of the United States initially responded to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country with various declarations of emergency, some of which led to travel and entry restrictions, and the formation of the White House Coronavirus Task Force. As the pandemic progressed in the U.S. and throughout the rest of the world, the U.S. government began issuing recommendations regarding the response by state and local governments, as well as social distancing measures and workplace hazard controls. State governments play a primary role in adopting policies to address the pandemic. Following the closure of most businesses throughout a number of U.S. states, President Donald Trump announced the mobilization of the National Guard in the most affected areas.
Marcella Nunez-Smith is an American physician. She is an associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at the Yale School of Medicine, where she is also Associate Dean for Health Equity Research and founding director of the Equity Research and Innovation Center. After co-chairing the Biden-Harris transition’s COVID-19 Advisory Board from November 2020 to January 2021, she was selected by President Joe Biden to lead his administration's COVID-19 Equity Task Force.
Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th president of the United States at noon EST on January 20, 2021. A Democrat from Delaware, he took office following the 2020 presidential election, in which he defeated incumbent Donald Trump. He is accompanied in office by Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American to hold that office. Biden entered office amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the worst infectious disease outbreak to affect the U.S. in a century, as well an accompanying economic crisis and increased political polarization.
Julie Morita is an American public health expert serving as the executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and a member of President Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. Prior to her position, she served as Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health.
Loyce Pace is an American public health policy expert serving as the executive director of the Global Health Council and member of President-elect Joe Biden's COVID-19 Advisory Board. She is an expert in global health equity, working to promote equitable access to health care around the world.
The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by then-President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella Nunez-Smith, and Vivek Murthy and comprises 13 health experts. The board was then succeeded by the White House COVID-19 Response Team upon Biden's presidency.
Executive Order 13985, officially titled Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government, is the first executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. It purports to advance “racial equity” and support for underserved communities through the federal government.
The social policy of the Joe Biden administration aims to improve on racial equity with executive orders.
The White House COVID-19 Response Team was established during the presidency of Joe Biden to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, replacing President Trump’s White House Coronavirus Task Force and Joe Biden’s transition COVID-19 Advisory Board.
Joneigh Khaldun is the Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan and Chief Deputy Director for Health in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. On February 10, 2021, she was announced as a member of the COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force under the Biden-Harris administration.
A Presidential Task Force or White House Task Force is a board of advisors appointed by the President of the United States whose main purpose is to enact policies in relation to responding to either national emergencies, crises, or general policy initiatives. Presidential task force members are part of the Executive Office of the President of the United States who don't require United States Senate confirmation and can be dismissed at the discretion of the President. This is granted by the Constitution of the United States under Article Two, Section Two, Clause One, stating, "require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices."
Executive Order 13987, officially titled Organizing and Mobilizing the United States Government to Provide a Unified and Effective Response to Combat COVID-19 and to Provide United States Leadership on Global Health and Security, is the third executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden on January 20, 2021. The order indicates that the federal government will respond to the COVID-19 Pandemic in a more coordinated manner and that federal rules would be published in the near future.
Executive Order 13994, officially titled Ensuring a Data-Driven Response to COVID-19 and Future High-Consequence Public Health Threats, is the tenth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order indicates that it is vital to ensure that there is a more analytical approach to dealing with COVID-19 public health threats.
Executive Order 13996, officially titled Establishing the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and Ensuring a Sustainable Public Health Workforce for COVID-19 and Other Biological Threats, was signed on January 21, 2021, and is the twelfth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order indicates that the United States should assemble the COVID-19 Pandemic Testing Board and guarantee a sustainable public health workforce to fight against the COVID-19 virus and other biological threats.
Executive Order 13992, officially titled Revocation of Certain Executive Orders Concerning Federal Regulation, was signed on January 20, 2021, and is the eighth executive order signed by U.S. President Joe Biden. The order works to withdraw certain federal regulation executive orders from previous administrations.
