Dr. Tom Frieden

President & CEO, Resolve to Save Lives, an iniative of Vital Strategies

Please find Dr. Frieden's bio, recent publications and interviews on COVID-19, downloadable files, and media contacts below.


Complete Biography:

Dr. Tom Frieden served as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Commissioner of the New York City Health Department. His work made New York City’s tuberculosis control program and overall health department models for the world, established effective programs in India, and improved morale, effectiveness, and impact at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Tom Frieden’s influential publications have identified the what, how and why of action to improve health.

Dr. Tom Frieden is a physician with advanced training in internal medicine, infectious disease, public health, and epidemiology. Over the past 25 years:

  • As Director, led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) work that ended the Ebola epidemic, launched initiative that will prevent 500,000 heart attacks and strokes, sounded the alarm and accelerated progress addressing the epidemic of opioid use, and increased effective action on the front lines to find and fight winnable battles and protect and improve health in the United States and around the world (2009-2017).

  • As the first Director of International Health Programs of Bloomberg Philanthropies, designed and launched the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, a program that has prevented more than 35 million deaths around the world (2006-2009, pro bono).

  • As Health Commissioner, led health transformation in New York City, increasing life expectancy by 3 years, preventing more than 100,000 deaths from smoking, and spurring national and global action on, among other areas, better epidemiologic understanding and control of public health problems including HIV, tobacco control, nutrition, as well as the integration of health care and public health. Reorganized to increase revenues and optimize health impact (2002-2009).

  • Guided the Indian tuberculosis control program to improve diagnosis and treatment rapidly, creating the largest and fastest expanding effective tuberculosis control program in the world and saving at least 3 million lives (1996-2002).

  • Led control of the largest outbreak of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis ever to occur in the United States by creating a tuberculosis control program that is a model for the United States and the world, with intensive community outreach, clinical excellence, effective integration of health care and public health, ongoing analysis and publication of key epidemiologic and program aspects, and rigorous accountability (1990-1996).

Recent Writings On Coronarvirus:

  • On January 22, Dr. Frieden wrote about the need to learn moreabout the pathogen, a summary of some of the first scientific articles, the need for more investment in global preparedness, broader reflections on politics and epidemics, and analysis of the implications of extensive spread in one hospital in Wuhan. At the request of China CDC, he outlined 5 components that contribute to the US CDC’s effectiveness keeping the U.S. and world safer. He also published this analysis of reasons for both optimism and pessimism, as well as some next steps in either case.

  • By February 25, it was clear that the virus would become a pandemic, and he outlined the next steps we need to take to reduce the health, social, and economic harms it will cause.

  • On February 28, along with colleagues from Resolve to Save Lives, he analyzed how to assess the severity of the pandemic and how to save the most lives and they repeated this analysis stratified by age group with updated information on March 10.

  • On March 2, Dr. Frieden called on Congress to protect the United States by including funding for global health protection in the supplemental appropriation. He outlined 19 critical data gaps we need to fill to respond effectively to COVID-19. 

  • By March 8, it was clear that COVID-19 would hit the US hard and Dr. Frieden called for restricting visits to nursing homes and a series of other measures to be taken by everyone, medically vulnerable people, health care systems, and the government. 

  • On March 11, as the pandemic hit the US, he urged 10 steps to prevent what could be a large disaster taking as many as 1 million lives. Dr. Frieden also reflected on the most important lessons from the Ebola epidemic to address the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Frieden clarified the differences between flu and COVID-19, and noted that although too many people will die from this, it, too, will pass.

  • As the pandemic spread in the U.S., on March 16, he wrote of 7 potentially deadly errors in the response. Dr. Frieden outlined some the most important questions about the virusand how we might answer them.

  • As a New Yorker, when COVID-19 began to spread widely in our city, he urged residents to protect themselves and others and looked forward to some positive results the tragic pandemic might bring. Drs. Shahpar and Frieden summarized the reasons for concern about the possibility that the need for intensive care could far outstrip supply in the United States. Facing the acceleration phase of the pandemic in New York City and learning from experiences around the world, Dr. Frieden suggested a war strategy to confront the virus, updating the strategy published one month earlier.

  • Thinking about how to build resilience, and in the face of confusion about what might help protect people, he reviewed the evidence that suggests that adequate Vitamin D stores may help.

  • Alarmed by haphazard and misinformed approaches to resuming social activity, he clarified how to restart activities as soon and safely as possible, turning the faucet slowly rather than opening the floodgates.

  • In an April 1 media briefing, Dr. Frieden laid out the key criteria that must be met before gradually reopening society after COVID-19 outbreaks

  • In an April 12 New York Times Op-Ed, Dr. Frieden outlined what the CDC can do to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

  • On April 17, joined by Dr. Dooley, he explained what contact tracing is, and why it’s so important. along with the Resolve team, he published their proposal, BoxItIn, to box the coronavirus in through testing, isolation, contact tracing, and quarantine so that people can come out again as soon and safely as possible. 

  • On April 27, Dr. Frieden argued for putting a stake through the heart of public health’s Eeyore Complex and Drs. Frieden and Shahpar outlined some simple truths about testing.

  • On May 5, Dr. Frieden and Dr. Kelly Henning explain how contact tracing is an essential component to combat COVID-19. 

  • On May 13, Dr. Frieden and Dr. Rajeev Cherukupalli noted that governments must focus on public health and saving lives in order to restore economic activity. He also joined Dr. Farzad Mostashari to explain how tech can support the fight against COVID-19 by supporting our existing public health infrastructure. Dr. Frieden outlined the 5 stages of COVID-19 grief. We’re at various stages of denial, anger, bargaining and depression. The sooner we accept that we’re going into a new normal, the sooner and safer we can reopen. 

  • On May 20, Dr. Frieden summarized the need for a four-tiered, color-coded system that grades the current state of risk with COVID-19 in order to recover our economy without risking lives. 

  • On May 26, Dr. Frieden outlined five ways to prevent deaths from both coronavirus infection and the disruption the pandemic is causing. 

  • On June 6, Dr. Frieden noted although the CDC made significant errors, it was undermined by the Administration’s response, and that blaming it for failure in fighting the pandemic is like “blaming a person who was bound and encased in concrete for failing to swim”. 

  • On June 11, he summarized some of the most egregious errors of amateur epidemiology and what we should pay attention to in order to control COVID-19 and restore our economy. 

Recent Media Briefings

Recent Broadcast and Podcast Interviews

Downloadable Files 

Media Contacts 

Christina Honeysett                                                                 Erin Sykes

[email protected]                                         [email protected]

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