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MARK SMOLINSKI
President, Ending Pandemics
About Me
Mark Smolinski, MD, MPH, brings over 25 years of experience in applying innovative solutions to improve disease prevention and control across the globe. As president of Ending Pandemics, he leads a team of innovators combining science and technology to improve early disease detection and rapid response in the planetary hotpots for emerging diseases.
Since 2009, Mark served as the chief medical officer and director of Global Health at the Skoll Global Threats Fund, where he developed the Ending Pandemics in Our Lifetime Initiative in 2012. His work at SGTF created a solid foundation for the work of Ending Pandemics, which branched out as an independent entity on January 1, 2018.
Prior to SGTF, Mark was part of the starting team at Google.org, Google’s philanthropic arm. Working with a team of engineers, Google Flu Trends (a project that had tremendous impact on the use of big data for disease surveillance) was created in partnership with the US Centers for Disease Control. Mark has served as vice president for Biological Programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a public charity directed by CNN founder Ted Turner and former US Senator Sam Nunn. Before NTI, he led an 18-member expert committee of the National Academy of Medicine on the 2003 landmark report “Microbial Threats to Health: Emergence, Detection, and Response.” Mark served as the sixth Luther Terry fellow in Washington, DC, in the Office of the US Surgeon General and as an epidemic intelligence officer with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
During COVID, Mark was appointed to the National Academy of Medicine’s Standing Committee on Emerging Threats in the 21st Century. Mark received his BS in Biology and MD from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He is board-certified in preventive medicine and public health and holds an MPH from the University of Arizona, where he was recognized as the 2016 Alumnus of the Year. Mark was on the investigative team that discovered hantavirus, a newly identified pathogen, in 1993. His passion for helping all peoples of the world save lives and improve livelihoods motivates partners on five continents. Mark shares his knowledge and experiences with the next generation of health leaders through trainings, workshops, lectures, and learning trips to see effective solutions at work in partner countries.
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