Stewart Simonson

Stewart Simonson
Stewart Simonson
Nationality	American
Alma mater	University of Wisconsin–Madison, J.D.
Occupation	WHO Assistant Director-General

Last updated April 27, 2022

Stewart Simonson is the Assistant Director-General of the World Health Organization responsible for the WHO Office at the United Nations and the WHO-US Liaison Office.^[1] He also serves as the Director-General's Special Representative for UN Reform. Prior to his assignment in New York, Simonson was the Assistant Director-General for the General Management Group at WHO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

Prior to joining WHO in October 2017, Simonson was a technical advisor/administrator at Hôpital Sacré-Coeur (HSC) in Milot, Haiti. He also served as legal counsel and corporate secretary for The CRUDEM Foundation, Inc., HSC’s U.S. sponsor. HSC is a 225-bed definitive care hospital located in northern Haiti.

Simonson was the first Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). He assumed office in 2004. Simonson told the president in his 2006 resignation letter that he had accomplished what he had set out to do, and it was time to pursue other opportunities. Simonson joined HHS in August 2001 and was instrumental in building the HHS preparedness and response organization that grew out of the September 11th attacks.

Simonson served as the Secretary's principal advisor on matters related to bioterrorism and other public health emergencies. He also coordinated interagency activities between HHS, other federal departments, agencies, offices and state and local officials responsible for emergency preparedness and the protection of the civilian population.^[2] Simonson was an early advocate of pandemic preparedness and led the Bush administration's work to respond to H5N1 influenza, including building influenza surveillance capacity around the world and securing the egg supply required for influenza vaccine production.

History

Simonson is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1986 and Juris Doctor degree in 1994. He is a member of the bar in Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.^[2]

After completing undergraduate studies, Simonson worked for several years on Wall Street before returning to Wisconsin to attend law school. Simonson worked his way through law school at the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Upon graduation he was hired as Deputy Legal Counsel to Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson and was soon promoted to Legal Counsel, a post he held from 1995 to 1999. Under Thompson, Simonson served as Chair of the state Pardon Advisory Board, directed the Governor's emergency management, led the policy development for crime and corrections, and coordinated the state's public safety agencies.

When Thompson became chairman of the board at the National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) in the late 1990s, the Board of Directors appointed Simonson as corporate secretary and counsel for the company. Then, when Thompson was appointed to be Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, he brought Simonson with him to that agency as well. From 2001 to 2003 he was the HHS Deputy General Counsel and provided legal advice and counsel to the Secretary on public health preparedness matters.^[3]

Simonson also served as Special Counsel to the Secretary and acted as the Secretary's liaison to the Homeland Security Council and the Department of Homeland Security. He also supervised policy development for countermeasure research and development programs, including Project Bioshield, a program to speed the manufacture of vaccines and antidotes. Since its enactment in July 2004, Project BioShield has launched nine acquisition programs including medical countermeasure acquisition programs for all four threat agents (anthrax, smallpox, botulinum toxins, and radiological/nuclear threats) determined by the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to pose material threats to the national security of the United States. Of the $3.4 billion available to the program between FY04 and FY08, over $1.7 billion had been obligated and the Strategic National Stockpile has substantially increased its holding of anthrax vaccines and medical countermeasures for radiological/nuclear threats.

Simonson was awarded the Surgeon General's Medallion in May 2006 for "Significant Collaboration with and Contributions to the USPHS Commissioned Corps Response Mission." In June 2006, Simonson received the Public Health Achievement Award from the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research: "For Tireless and exceptional dedication in better preparing our nation and world against the threats of bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases, including pandemic influenza."

On May 10, 2006 the Director-General of WHO Dr. J.W. Lee wrote: "I want to add my personal congratulations for the contributions you have made to international public health since your appointment as Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness. I will be sorry to see you leave. Your personal interest in pandemic influenza has added much to our joint global preparedness and response and response activities. And without your input and actions, the new and critical International Health Regulations likely would be less robust and action-oriented. Action rather than mere words has been the hallmark of your tenure in the Department of Health and Human Services."

Following the release of a report critical of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center, Simonson was asked by Dr. Francis Collins, Director of NIH, to lead an initiative to engage Clinical Center staff and make recommendations to improve the Clinical Center. Informed by 70 focus group sessions with Clinical Center staff, Simonson submitted his report including these recommendations to Dr. Collins and the Clinical Center Research Hospital Board on July 14, 2017.^[4]

Controversies

Simonson's alleged lack of qualifications and of public health experience were a target for Democrats attacking President Bush's perceived cronyism, especially in light of the poor job Bush-appointee Michael D. Brown is believed to have done responding to Hurricane Katrina. Unlike Mr. Brown, Mr. Simonson, 42 years old at the time, kept his job, and remained at HHS under Mr. Thompson's successor, Mike Leavitt. Some respected public health officials rose to his defense, describing Mr. Simonson as a person who worked behind the scenes to get funding and political support for long-neglected public-health initiatives.

Simonson coordinated the HHS response to Hurricane Katrina and received high marks. Dr. Louis Cataldie, the Louisiana State Medical Examiner, wrote in his book, Coroners Journal: "I respect Stewart Simonson, Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness at the Department of Health and Human Services, who met me face-to-face and stayed true to his word. Imagine someone from D.C. being a straight guy. He has delivered every time - not so with some of these other cover-your-ass feds." (Cataldie, Louis, Coroner's Journal, G. Putnam's Sons, New York, NY (2006) Page 7.)

Some of the nation's leading scientists were quick to defend Simonson. Dr. Michael T. Osterholm, an infectious disease expert at the University of Minnesota said: "Of all the people I've worked with over my career, no one is more competent".

"Here's the guy who has really done a terrific job under very complicated, adverse circumstances. To have him be the target the way he has, has got to be one of the really unfair events in Washington, which is a pretty unfair place to begin with," said Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, an HHS unit (Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2005).

D. A. Henderson, a public health expert who led the effort to wipe out smallpox in the late 1960s and 1970s, said: "The general feeling was this is someone who may be here because of political reasons, but this is a dedicated person who has the interests of the country at heart." Dr. Henderson, who joined HHS after September 11, 2001, and left in 2002, says Mr. Simonson was instrumental in helping him do everything from finding office space to working on an early HHS purchase of smallpox vaccine (Wall Street Journal, December 12, 2005). In his recent book, Dr. Henderson described Simonson's role in launching the post-9/11 public health preparedness program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: "Another important figure was Stewart Simonson, special counsel and long-time confidante of the secretary. He was comparatively young and new to government but a quick learner and determined to allow neither bureaucracy nor red tape to stand in the way of getting the job done. Little would have been achieved without both of them" (referring to Simonson and Dr. William Raub) D. A. Henderson, MD, Smallpox: The Death of a Disease, Prometheus Books (2009), Page 191.

Professional Publications

Simonson, Stewart. "Reflections on Preparedness: Pandemic Planning in the Bush Administration." Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy 4.1 (2010): 5-31. (see https://web.archive.org/web/20110728105407/http://law.slu.edu/healthlaw/journal/archives/Simonson_Article.pdf)

Nightingale, Stuart L., Prasher, Joanna M., Simonson, Stewart. "Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) to Enable Use of Needed Products in Civilian and Military Emergencies, United States." Journal of Emerging Infectious Diseases 13.7 (2007): 1046–1051. (see https://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/13/7/1046.htm)

Simonson, Stewart. "Advising on Publication" (Letter to Editor). Science 311.5759 (2006): 336–337.

Related Research Articles

Bioterrorism is terrorism involving the intentional release or dissemination of biological agents. These agents are bacteria, viruses, insects, fungi or toxins, and may be in a naturally occurring or a human-modified form, in much the same way as in biological warfare. Further, modern agribusiness is vulnerable to anti-agricultural attacks by terrorists, and such attacks can seriously damage economy as well as consumer confidence. The latter destructive activity is called agrobioterrorism and is a subtype of agro-terrorism.

The United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), is a cabinet-level executive branch department of the U.S. federal government created to protect the health of all Americans and providing essential human services. Its motto is "Improving the health, safety, and well-being of America". Before the separate federal Department of Education was created in 1979, it was called the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW).

The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. As its website states:

"The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available."

Donald Ainslie Henderson was an American medical doctor, educator, and epidemiologist who directed a 10-year international effort (1967–1977) that eradicated smallpox throughout the world and launched international childhood vaccination programs. From 1977 to 1990, he was Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. Later, he played a leading role in instigating national programs for public health preparedness and response following biological attacks and national disasters. At the time of his death, he was Professor and Dean Emeritus of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine and Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, as well as Distinguished Scholar at the UPMC Center for Health Security.

Howard Kyongju Koh is the former United States Assistant Secretary for Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), after being nominated by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in 2009.

The Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness Act (PREPA), passed by the United States Congress and signed into law by President of the United States George W. Bush in December 2005, is a controversial tort liability shield intended to protect vaccine manufacturers from financial risk in the event of a declared public health emergency. The part of PREPA that actually affords such protection is now codified at 42 U.S.C. § 247d-6d. The act specifically affords to drug makers immunity from actions related to the manufacture, testing, development, distribution, administration and use of medical countermeasures against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents of terrorism, epidemics, and pandemics. PREPA strengthens and consolidates the oversight of litigation against pharmaceutical companies under the purview of the secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). PREPA provides $3.8 billion for pandemic influenza preparedness to protect public health in the case of a pandemic disease outbreak.

The Project Bioshield Act was an act passed by the United States Congress in 2004 calling for $5 billion for purchasing vaccines that would be used in the event of a bioterrorist attack. This was a ten-year program to acquire medical countermeasures to biological, chemical, radiological, and nuclear agents for civilian use. A key element of the Act was to allow stockpiling and distribution of vaccines which had not been tested for safety or efficacy in humans, due to ethical concerns. Efficacy of such agents cannot be directly tested in humans without also exposing humans to the chemical, biological, or radioactive threat being treated, so testing follows the FDA Animal Rule for pivotal animal efficacy.

Joxel García is a Puerto Rican physician and a retired four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He served as the fourteenth Assistant Secretary for Health (ASH), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from March 13, 2008, to January 20, 2009. He served as the Director of Health in the District of Columbia. He served as the Executive Director of the MD Anderson Cancer Control and Prevention Platform and Member of the Leadership Team of the MD Anderson Moon Shots program until May 2017 before joining American Express as Vice President and Chief Medical Officer.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority(BARDA) is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) office responsible for the procurement and development of medical countermeasures, principally against bioterrorism, including chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats, as well as pandemic influenza and emerging diseases. BARDA was established in 2006 through the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA) and reports to the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The office manages Project BioShield, which funds the research, development and stockpiling of vaccines and treatments that the government could use during public health emergencies such as chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) attacks.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) within the United States Department of Health and Human Services that focuses on preparedness planning and response; building federal emergency medical operational capabilities; countermeasures research, advance development, and procurement; and grants to strengthen the capabilities of hospitals and health care systems in public health emergencies and medical disasters. The office provides federal support, including medical professionals through ASPR’s National Disaster Medical System, to augment state and local capabilities during an emergency or disaster.

On December 19, 2006, the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act (PAHPA), Public Law No. 109-417, was signed into law by President George W. Bush. First introduced in the House by Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI) and Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-CA), PAHPA had broad implications for the United States Department of Health and Human Services's (HHS) preparedness and response activities. Among other things, the act amended the Public Health Service Act to establish within the department a new Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR); provided new authorities for a number of programs, including the advanced development and acquisitions of medical countermeasures; and called for the establishment of a quadrennial National Health Security Strategy.

In the United States, a public health emergency declaration releases resources meant to handle an actual or potential public health crisis. Recent examples include:

Nicole Lurie is an American physician, professor of medicine, and public health official. During the administration of President Barack Obama, she was Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2009 through the end of the president's second term. The mission of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response is to "lead the nation in preventing, responding to and recovering from the adverse health effects of public health emergencies and disasters, ranging from hurricanes to bioterrorism."

James M. Galloway is an American medical doctor and public health physician. Galloway served as the Regional Health Administrator for the United States Department of Health and Human Services for the six eastern states that comprise Region V under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. He also served as the Senior Federal Official for Health for Pandemic Influenza and Bioterrorism for the Department of Homeland Security's Region C, which includes an additional six states. Galloway was the lead for one of CDC's lead efforts as the Director of the Office of Health System Collaboration, integrating clinical care and public health at a national level.

Brett P. Giroir is an American pediatrician and a former four-star admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He currently serves on the board of directors for Remote Area Medical, and as the chief medical advisor for Gauss Surgical. He previously served as the 16th assistant secretary for health during the Trump administration from February 15, 2018, to January 19, 2021. He concurrently served as the secretary's principal public health and science adviser, the senior adviser for the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration as well as the senior adviser to the secretary for Opioid Policy. From 2020 to 2021, he served additionally as the director of the U.S. coronavirus diagnostic testing, and as the U.S. representative on the World Health Organization Executive Board. As COVID-19 testing czar, he was part of the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Robert Peter Kadlec is an American physician and career officer in the United States Air Force who served as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services from August 2017 until January 2021.

The Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness and Advancing Innovation Act (PAHPAI) is legislation introduced and passed by the U.S. Congress in 2019 that aims to improve the nation's preparation and response to public health threats, including both natural threats and deliberate man-made threats.

Eva K. Lee American operations researcher

Eva K Lee is an American applied mathematician and operations researcher who applies combinatorial optimization and systems biology to the study of health care decision making and organizational transformation. She is an analytic member of the Medical and Public Health Information Sharing Environment (MPHISE) system. Since July 2021, Lee assumes the role of chief scientific officer for a private technology company, heading the Center for Operations Research in Medicine and Healthcare and the Center for Operations Research in Homeland Security. Prior, she was a professor at the H. Milton Stewart School of Industrial and Systems Engineering of Georgia Institute of Technology. She was also the Founder and Director of Georgia Tech's Center for Operations Research in Medicine and Healthcare from 1999 until June 30, 2021. She was a Distinguished Scholar in Health Systems, Health System Institute at Georgia Tech and Emory University. Lee was the Virginia C. and Joseph C. Mello Chair from 2017 to 2019.

Arnold Monto American physician and epidemiologist

Arnold Monto is an American physician and epidemiologist. At the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Monto is the Thomas Francis Collegiate Professor of Public Health, professor of epidemiology, and professor of global public health. His epidemiologic focus is on occurrence, prevention, and treatment of acute infections in the individual and the community.

Rick Arthur Bright is an American immunologist, vaccine researcher, and public health official. He was the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) from 2016 to 2020. In May 2020, he filed a whistleblower complaint, alleging that the Trump administration ignored his early warnings about the COVID-19 pandemic and illegally retaliated against him by ousting him from his role and demoting him to a position at the National Institutes of Health. On October 6, 2020, Bright resigned from the government. On November 9 he was named a member of President-elect Joe Biden's coronavirus advisory board.

References

↑ "WHO Director General Appoints Mr Stewart Simonson to lead the WHO office at the UN".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
1 2 "HHS Assistant Secretary's Biography at hhs.gov" Archived 2009-08-10 at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Assistant Secretary Appointment Archived 2010-03-05 at the Wayback Machine at hhs.gov"]
↑ "National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Engagement Project Report - July 14, 2017" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

External links

"Stewart Simonson Vice President at SRA International"
"New Worries on BioShield Effort", The Washington Post , October 4, 2005.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[1] "WHO Director General Appoints Mr Stewart Simonson to lead the WHO office at the UN".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[hhs1-2] 1 2 "HHS Assistant Secretary's Biography at hhs.gov" Archived 2009-08-10 at the Wayback Machine

[hhs2-3] "Assistant Secretary Appointment Archived 2010-03-05 at the Wayback Machine at hhs.gov"]

[4] "National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Engagement Project Report - July 14, 2017" (PDF).{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]