Today President Biden appointed the FEMA’s Robert Fenton as the White House National Monkeypox Response Coordinator and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as the White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator. Fenton along with Daskalakis are expected to direct the administration’s strategies and actions to fight the current outbreak of monkeypox and will ensure that there is a fair increase in the number of tests, vaccines and treatments.
Robert Fenton currently serves as Regional Administrator for FEMA Region 9 in the American West, with nearly 50 million people living in his responsibility area. One of the nation’s most effective and experienced emergency management experts, Robert Fenton has twice been the Acting Administrator of FEMA and has led numerous challenging emergency response, prevention and recovery operations throughout his lengthy and distinguished career, which included for natural disasters, diseases outbreaks, and complicated humanitarian operations.
Demetre Daskalakis is a prominent public health specialist and director of the CDC Division of HIV Prevention. He is a nationally recognized expert in health issues that impact those in the LGBGQIAand communities of color, her practice is focused on providing treatment for those who are not served LGBTQIAand communities. He previously managed the control of infectious diseases at The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, one of the largest agencies in the country and was also the an incident commander for the city’s COVID-19 response.
Fenton and Daskalakis together have more than 40 years of expertise with Federal Emergency response as well as public health management, which includes managing the operation and implementation of crucial elements of Biden’s intervention to combat the COVID-19 epidemic, and directing local as well as Federal Public Health Emergency initiatives including controlling infectious diseases and HIV prevention. Both played a key role in creating COVID vaccines more accessible to communities that are not served and in closing the gap between equity and adult vaccination rates through the establishment and implementation of FEMA mass vaccination programs in some of the nation’s poorest communities, as well as working with the community’s trusted residents to improve vaccine confidence.
“We look forward to partnering with Bob Fenton and Demetre Dasklalakis as we work to end the monkeypox outbreak in America,” said U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra. “Bob’s experience in federal and regional response coordination, and Demetre’s vast knowledge of our public health systems’ strengths and limits will be instrumental as we work to stay ahead of the virus and advance a whole-of-government response.”
“Bob Fenton and Dr. Daskalakis are proven, effective leaders that will lead a whole of government effort to implement President Biden’s comprehensive monkeypox response strategy with the urgency that this outbreak warrants,” said Anthony Fauci, Chief Medical Advisor to the Biden President. “From Bob’s work at FEMA leading COVID-19 mass vaccination efforts and getting vaccines to underserved communities to Demetre’s extensive experience and leadership on health equity and STD and HIV prevention, this team will allow the Biden Administration to further accelerate and strengthen its monkeypox response.”
Fenton along with Daskalakis will oversee and coordinate actions to combat the virus throughout all of the White House and all Federal agencies and departments. They will collaborate together with state, local and national stakeholders to track and fight the spread of monkeypox. working with local and state partners to ensure that they have the right resources to treat, test and vaccine at-risk patients along with health professionals and clinicians regarding available tests, treatments and vaccine options, and working with stakeholder groups on developing an understanding of the virus among the public and ways to combat the issue most effectively.
Since the first monkeypox case was discovered within the United States on May 18 in the year 2000, the Biden-Harris Administration has had a extensive and aggressive plan to stop the spread of the disease and safeguard those who are most at in danger. This Administration has made more than 1.1 million doses the vaccine available to cities and states across the nation to stop spreading the disease. It has increased the number of tests available from 6,000 weekly tests to more than 80,000 tests per week and regularly communicated with health professionals and local health departments, encouraging patients to use tests more frequently. This Administration is also making treatment easier for patients and health professionals and has also established a comprehensive outreach plan to engage with health professionals, public health officials and members of the LGBTQIAand community in order to raise awareness of the virus and also to promote prevention as well as response and treatment strategies. The Administration also recently unveiled its monkeypox research agenda hoping to inspire the global community to pinpoint and close any gaps in knowledge about the virus in order to speed up and increase the response of the world.
In the next few months, with the direction by Fenton and Daskalakis The Administration will accelerate and advance the United States’ monkeypox response to slow spreading of this virus. ensure that those who are most susceptible to contracting the disease, and take care for those affected by it.
More details about Robert Fenton and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis is available below:
Robert Fenton, White House National Monkeypox Response Coordinator
Robert Fenton serves as Regional Administrator for FEMA Region 9 in the American West, with nearly 50 million residents in his jurisdiction. He has more than 25 years of experience in Federal emergency response, which includes acting twice as the acting Administrator of FEMA and most recently in the initial month of the Biden Harris Administration. As acting Administrator during the start of the Biden Administration, Fenton oversaw FEMA’s massive vaccination efforts which brought vaccination facilities in some of the nation’s most under-served communities. Fenton also was the Chief Response Officer in Operation Allies Welcome, where he was in charge of efforts to relocate 76,000 Afghan refugees on a record-breaking timeframe.
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator
The Dr. Demetre Daskalakis serves as Director of the Division of HIV Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control, which is where he supervises HIV prevention initiatives. The Dr. Daskalakis worked in the CDC COVID-19 response as a leader in health equity and as head of the vaccination task team. Before joining CDC in the year 2000, Dr. Daskalakis served as New York City Department of Health’s Deputy Commissioner for its Division of Disease Control. In this position as Deputy Commissioner, Dr. Daskalakis oversaw many of the city’s HIV as well as STD educational and intervention programs. He contributed to bringing HIV prevalence to a historic low. He was also the Incident Commander during COVID-19, and Measles outbreaks. He has written more than 60 academic papers and is widely acknowledged for his knowledge and advocacy for health issues that affect people of the LGBTQIA+ communities.