Ali H. Mokdad, Ph.D. - Lebanese Americans

Dr. Ali H. Mokdad has been on many news channels because of his experience in the field and data analyzation of pandemic disease of COVID-19 virus that has spread the world. USA is leading the world with the most reported cases, active cases, and death from the COVID-19 virus.

Dr. Mokdad is Chief Strategy Officer for Population Health at University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. He is a Professor of Health Metrics Sciences, IHME since 2009 until present.

Dr. Mokdad has worked for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as Branch Chief 2002 until 2009, and he was a Senior Epidemiologist 1997 until 2002.

Dr. Mokdad and his team use many key revision model to accounting for six different measures of social distancing instead of four to reflect (1) partial closures of non-essential businesses and (2) mass gathering restrictions. Due to these measures and the new data from New York, New Jersey, and key states, Dr. Mokdad and his team are projecting much fewer death than originally anticipated and faster return to normality. “The American people should be commended. Their sacrifices are really helping to reduce the spread of COVID19, which will allow the economy to reopen faster. StayHomeStaySafe “

Dr. Mokdad advise to plan to reopen the economy with restrictions in place to prevent the outbreak of the virus. “The foundation is now in place to being a phased reopening of the economy. Such a reopening must be paired with a strong surveillance plan to prevent a second wave from setting us back.”

More about Dr. Ali H. Mokdad

Ali H. Mokdad

Ali H. Mokdad, PhD, is a Professor of Health Metrics Sciences at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) and Chief Strategy Officer for Population Health at the University of Washington. The Population Health Initiative was launched by President Ana Mari Cauce to create a shared vision for improving the health and well-being of populations locally and around the world.

As a public health researcher, Dr. Mokdad has published groundbreaking work on local-level disease trends and some of the leading risk factors for poor health. His work on obesity is among the most highly cited in the field.

As Director of Middle Eastern Initiatives for IHME, Dr. Mokdad builds IHME’s presence in the Middle East through new research projects, dissemination and uptake of IHME’s methods and results, and consultations with regional leaders in population health.

Dr. Mokdad is the principal investigator (PI) for several important initiatives:

Salud Mesoamerica Initiative: providing independent evaluation for the public-private partnership between the Mesoamerican countries, private foundations, and bilateral donors; seeks to reduce inequities in the coverage of basic health services among the poorest populations in Mesoamerica
“Visualizing the impact and cost of interventions on future projections of diarrhea burden”: providing 25 years of forecasting for diarrheal disease burden and a simulation for the cost-effectiveness of known and developing interventions
Regional Malaria Elimination Initiative (RMEI): evaluating malaria programs in several Latin American and Caribbean nations; part of a project funded by the Inter-American Development Bank, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Carlos Slim Foundation, and The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Prior to joining IHME, Dr. Mokdad worked at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), starting his career there in 1990. He served in numerous positions with the International Health Program; the Division of Nutrition and Physical Activity; the National Immunization Program; and the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he was Chief of the Behavioral Surveillance Branch.

He also managed and directed the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), the world’s largest standardized telephone survey, which enables the CDC, state health departments, and other health and education agencies to monitor risk behaviors related to the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the United States.

Dr. Mokdad has published more than 550 articles and numerous reports. He has received several awards, including:

The Global Health Achievement Award for his work in Banda Aceh after the tsunami
The Department of Health and Human Services Honor Award for his work on flu monitoring
The Shepard Award for outstanding scientific contribution to public health for his work on BRFSS
The Warren J. Mitofsky Innovators Award from the American Association for Public Opinion Research for innovation in research on address-based sampling

He received his BS in Biostatistics from the American University of Beirut and his PhD in Quantitative Epidemiology from Emory University.

IHME was founded in 2007 at the University of Washington to provide better evidence to improve health globally by guiding health policy and funding.

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