Global pandemic expert Dennis Carroll has been appointed URC’s Senior Advisor for Global Health Security and URC Global Advisory Board member.
“Dennis’s depth and breadth of experience will greatly enhance URC’s global health security capabilities and response,” said Suellen Estrin, URC Chair and CEO.
“Dennis will help URC ensure that we are implementing our projects following evidenced-based best practices during this pandemic and with all infectious disease work,” said URC President Earl Gast. “And his forward thinking will guide us programmatically in preparing for and helping to prevent emerging viral threats.”
For nearly 15 years, Carroll directed USAID’s Pandemic Influenza and other Emerging Threats Unit. As Director of the unit, he led USAID’s Emerging Pandemic Threats program ― a global effort to combat new disease threats before they can become significant threats to human health. Carroll was responsible for providing strategic and operational leadership for the agency’s programs addressing new and emerging disease threats, which included leading the agency’s response to the H5N1 avian influenza and H1N1 pandemic viral threats. At USAID, he spearheaded Predict, a project that identified more than 2,000 zoonotic viruses, or germs that could also sicken people.
Carroll will continue to serve as Chair of the Global Virome Project Leadership Board, leading the innovative nonprofit partnership dedicated to tracking zoonotic threats and developing a database of viruses.
Carroll initially was detailed to USAID from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as a senior public health advisor in 1991. In 1995 he was named the agency’s Senior Infectious Diseases Advisor, responsible for overseeing the agency’s programs in malaria, tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, disease surveillance, and neglected and emerging infectious diseases. In this capacity, Carroll was directly involved in the development and introduction of a range of new technologies for disease prevention and control, including community-based delivery of treatment of onchocerciasis, rapid diagnostics for malaria, new treatment therapies for drug-resistant malaria, intermittent therapy for pregnant women and long-lasting insecticide-treated bed nets for prevention of malaria. He also was responsible for the initial design and development of the President’s Malaria Initiative.
Carroll has a doctorate in biomedical research with a special focus in tropical infectious diseases from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He was a Research Scientist at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory where he studied the molecular mechanics of viral infection. Dennis has received awards from both the CDC and USAID, including the 2006 USAID Science and Technology Award for his work on malaria and avian influenza, the 2008 USAID Administrator’s Management Innovation Award for his management of the Agency’s Avian and Pandemic Influenza program, the 2015 USAID’s Distinguished Service Award, and a 2018 Lifetime Achievement Award from Texas A&M University.
“Dennis brings an exceptional perspective on the global infectious disease environment with a proven track record of execution and leadership” said Carlos Cuellar, URC Executive Vice President – Technical Programs. “We are thrilled to have him join URC.”
