Scott F. Dowell, a pediatric infectious disease specialist by training, serves as Senior Advisor, Global Health Emergency Corps at the World Health Organization. Prior to that he spent a decade overseeing disease surveillance work at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and led its $2 billion response to the Covid-19 pandemic, contributing in a small way to saving some 19 million lives. Dr. Dowell spent 20 years at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he studied viral and bacterial pneumonia, and responded to outbreaks of Ebola and other pathogens. He established and directed the International Emerging Infections Program in Thailand, a collaboration that received accolades from both the Thai and U.S. governments for its prominent role in responding to the SARS crisis, and for its leadership in defining the response to avian influenza A (H5N1) in Southeast Asia. He led CDC’s response to the earthquake and cholera epidemic in Haiti, helping to rebuild the public health infrastructure and contributing to the saving of an estimated 7,000 lives. Dr. Dowell served as the Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for International Health Regulations and the Division of Global Disease Detection and Emergency Response and established the agency’s Global Health Security Agenda. In 2014, he retired from the US Public Health Service at the rank of Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General. Dr. Dowell has co-authored more than 190 public