This episode's guest is Alex Azar ’88, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2018-2021).
Secretary Azar led the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 2018 to 2021 during the Trump Administration and was the architect of Operation Warp Speed; he combined his experience in the pharmaceutical industry with his understanding of government programs—having previously served as general counsel and subsequently Deputy Secretary of HHS in the George W. Bush Administration—to lead the largest biomedical development program in history. Under his direction, the United States developed two remarkably safe and effective vaccines within months, embarked on the production of tens of millions of doses, and authorized therapeutics to treat COVID. As a result of his leadership, the Warp Speed team developed a public-private partnership with the biopharmaceutical industry through which hundreds of millions of Americans were vaccinated within one year of the inception of the program. While the policy lessons remain relevant for pandemic response programs, the model can also help guide future public-private partnerships.
Interview by Dartmouth student Ben Vagle '22. Edited by Laura Hemlock. Music: Debussy Arabesque no 1. Composer: Claude Debussy
