Global Health Institute

On February 7, 2023, Georgetown University’s Conversations in Health: Global to Local course welcomed Ambassador Jimmy Kolker to engage in a meaningful discussion on his career path and the field of global health diplomacy. Ambassador Kolker had a distinguished 30-year diplomatic career in the U.S. State Department, serving as the ambassador to Burkina Faso from 1999 to 2002 and to Uganda from 2002 to 2005. He then led the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) between 2002 and 2005 and the HIV/AIDS program at UNICEF between 2007 and 2011. In 2017, Ambassador Kolker retired from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) after serving as the assistant secretary for global affairs, where he represented the United States at the World Health Organization and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Ambassador Kolker’s experience working at multilateral institutions and the federal government through various health emergencies—including the HIV/AIDS pandemic, Ebola virus epidemic, and the H1N1 swine flu pandemic—brought a nuanced and unique perspective to the conversation.

On April 20, 2021, Georgetown’s Conversations in Global Health class was fortunate enough to engage in conversation with Ms. Natasha Bilimoria, the current deputy assistant administrator in the Bureau of Global Health at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). To say the least, Ms. Bilimoria has had an impressive and diverse career in global health. In 2013, she became the director of U.S. strategy for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, where she focused on garnering public and private sector support in the United States to advance Gavi’s mission of increasing childhood immunization in low-income countries. Prior to her work at Gavi and USAID, Ms. Bilimoria spent several years at Friends of the Global Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria, which advocates for U.S. support for the Global Fund (a public-private partnership which aims to end the AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria epidemics). Ms. Bilimoria’s experience working in multilateral institutions, non-profit organizations, and the federal government brought a unique and refreshing perspective to our discussion on how we can inspire Americans to recognize the power and importance of global health in an era where the health of individuals and nations is more connected than ever before.