Dr. Nils Daulaire, MD, MPH, Director, Office of Global Affairs

Dr. Nils Daulaire was appointed by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to serve the Department of Health and Human Services as Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs on March 22, 2010.   Recognizing the vital role of HHS in international health diplomacy efforts, President Obama also nominated Dr. Daulaire to serve as the U.S. Representative on the Executive Board of the World Health Organization, and he was unanimously confirmed to this position by the full Senate on April 14, 2011.  

Immediately prior to his appointment at HHS, Dr. Daulaire served for over a decade as president and CEO of the Global Health Council, an international non-profit membership organization with members in more than 100 countries.  In this role he coordinated extensively with international leaders, NGOs, faith-based organizations, academic and charitable institutions, governments and United Nations agencies to improve public health in the world’s poorest communities.  He advised the Bush Administration on the initial establishment of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and the President’s Malaria Initiative, consulted with Congress on ramping up funding for international maternal and child health as well as neglected tropical diseases, testified on behalf of reproductive health and family planning programs, and helped to ensure meaningful civil society participation in the design and governance of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

From 1993-1998, he served in the Clinton Administration as Deputy Assistant Administrator for Policy and as Senior International Health Advisor at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), where he guided an integrated global strategy encompassing health, population, hunger, girls' education and other social sector programs.  He was the lead U.S. negotiator on health matters at numerous international conferences, including the Cairo Conference on Population and Development, the Beijing World Conference on Women, and the World Food Conference, and participated in numerous World Health Organization annual assemblies.  

Before this, Dr. Daulaire devoted nearly two decades to health services and public health in low-income countries, managing maternal and child health delivery and field research programs in Nepal, Mali, Bangladesh and Haiti, and has worked on global health program and policy matters in more than fifty countries encompassing every region of the world.  His pioneering work in community-based management of childhood pneumonia and vitamin A supplementation has contributed directly to the development of global policies and programs.

A summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Medical School, and the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health, he is board certified in preventive medicine and public health.  He has been elected to membership in the Institute of Medicine as well as the Council on Foreign Relations, and has published widely in scholarly health and policy journals.  He speaks seven languages.