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Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan's Blog on
Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases

We look at the critical issues in infectious disease that threaten us globally and nationally and our public health actions.

Ali S. Khan's Bio

Khan on site in Zaire during monkeypox outbreak, surrounded by liquid nitrogen.

Khan (left) on site in Zaire during monkeypox outbreak, surrounded by liquid nitrogen.

Rear Admiral Ali S. Khan is currently an Assistant Surgeon General and the Deputy Director of the National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-borne, and Enteric Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], Department of Health and Human Services. He joined CDC and the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps in 1991 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer and over the past decade has responded to and led numerous high profile domestic and international public health emergencies including hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, Ebola hemorrhagic fever, monkeypox, avian influenza, Rift Valley fever, severe acute respiratory syndrome [SARS], the Asian Tsunami, and the initial public health response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

In 1999, he served as one of the main architects of CDC's public health bioterrorism preparedness program which upgraded local, state, and national public health systems to detect and rapidly respond to bioterrorism. As Deputy Director of this new program he created the Critical Agent list, which has remained the basis for all biological terrorism preparedness; published the first national public health preparedness plan; initiated syndrome-based surveillance; and designed the key focus areas to improve local and state capacities. These preparedness efforts were crucial in limiting the scope of the first anthrax attack during which he directed the CDC operational response in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Khan’s professional career has focused on bioterrorism, global health, and emerging infectious diseases. While serving as the interim Director for CDC’s global infectious disease activities he designed CDC’s joint field epidemiology and laboratory training program. He helped design and implement the new $1.2 billion 5-year President’s Malaria Initiative and has been engaged in guinea worm eradication activities. More recently, he has spear-headed BioPHusion as a new public health initiative to improve knowledge exchange, integration, and delivery for all public health practitioners.

Dr. Khan received his MD from Downstate Medical Center in his hometown of Brooklyn, NY and completed a joint residency in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor before joining CDC. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians. He has since completed a Masters of Public Health from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health where he now holds an adjunct Professor appointment and co-directs the Emerging Infections course (Meet the Scientists @ MicrobeWorld). He has over 150 peer-reviewed publications, textbook chapters, editorials, and brief communiqués. He has consulted intensively for multiple US organizations including NASA, Ministries of Health, and the World Health Organization.

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