Vice President for Global Health
Principal Investigator for the Global Health Institute –
China Tobacco Control Partnership
Dr. Jeffrey P. Koplan is an internationally renowned public health leader with more than 30 years of experience. Dr. Koplan is Vice President for Global Health at Emory University, Principal Investigator for the Global Health Institute – China Tobacco Control Partnership, and Co-founder of the International Association of National Public Health Institutes (IANPHI). He founded the Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) in 2006, served as its Director until March, 2013, and continues to be actively involved in its daily operations in his role as Vice President for Global Health. Prior to founding EGHI, Dr. Koplan was Vice President for Academic Health Affairs at Emory University.
A former Director (1998-2002) and 26-year veteran of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Dr. Koplan began his public health career in the early 1970s as a member of the CDC’s Epidemic Intelligence Service. He has worked on many major public health issues, including infectious diseases such as smallpox, SARS, pandemic influenza and HIV/AIDS, environmental issues such as the Bhopal chemical disaster, and the health toll of tobacco and chronic diseases, both in the United States and around the globe. He chairs the Institute of Medicine committee on preventing childhood obesity.
From 1994 to 1998, he pursued his interest in enhancing the interactions between clinical medicine and public health by developing and leading the Prudential Center for Health Care Research.
His first collaboration with China was in 1980 as a member of the US-PRC Public Health/Health Services Research Joint Committee, on which he became Co-Chair with Professor Yang Ming Ding (Shanghai No. 1 Medical College, now Fudan) in 1981. Since then he has made more than 40 visits to China on projects for the World Bank, WHO, CDC and China’s Ministry of Health. He has worked on several World Bank loan projects in China, including serving as a principal advisor on Health Loan VII, health promotion and tobacco control in seven cities. He has been awarded an Honorary Professorship at China CDC and named Honorary Advisor #001 to China CDC at its formation in 2002.
Dr. Koplan is a graduate of Yale University, the Mt. Sinai School of Medicine, and the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a Master of the American College of Physicians and was elected to membership in and service on the governing council in the Institute of Medicine. He has served on many advisory groups and consultancies in the U.S. and overseas, and has written more than 200 scientific papers. He is a trustee of the China Medical Board.