Fall 2006 Issue
CDC Foundation Welcomes New Board Member, Gary Cohen
Gary Cohen joined the CDC Foundation Board of Directors in May 2006. Cohen has worked with Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD) since 1983 and is presently an executive vice president of the company. He is dedicated, both professionally and personally, to addressing global health needs, with particular focus on infectious diseases that are ravaging developing countries. He has traveled extensively to gain firsthand experience from health professionals and people coping with disease. Cohen also serves as national chair of the U.S. Fund for UNICEF’s campaign for children affected by HIV/AIDS.
Cohen recently shared his thoughts on opportunities for improving health globally and the role of CDC Foundation in building partnerships to bring about solutions to urgent health threats.
What sparked your interest in the CDC Foundation?
The work of CDC is closely aligned with where I’ve directed my professional and personal energies over the past 20 plus years. There’s a lot of commonality in the great work that CDC does and areas where I’ve tried to make a difference. After learning about the CDC Foundation from another board member, Richard Edelman, I became interested in establishing a connection with the Foundation based on its mission of working with CDC to improve health through partnerships. I thought it made a lot of sense.
After joining the board, what were your first impressions?
I’m very impressed with the quality of the board - the fact that it is drawn from a cross-section of industries and backgrounds, the dedication of board members, and the level with which the board interacts with leadership at CDC. I sit on a lot of boards and know that some can be primarily procedural. It is absolutely clear that this is a board where things happen.
What do you feel are some of the greatest challenges for the public health community?
Both in the developed and developing world, there are major challenges that have to be addressed.
In the developing world, the burden of disease, particularly infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB, is unacceptably high. The means to address the suffering and death from disease already exist. It is not so much a question of new science, but rather, of the effectiveness of health systems and lack of access to basic health services. The right combination of interventions across the public and private sectors can lead to a dramatic reduction in mortalities from disease in developing countries. In turn, a reduction in the disease burden can be instrumental in helping break the chain of poverty. In my view, this is something we must be committed to acting upon, with a strong sense of urgency.
In the developed world there are different health challenges, and I was pleased to see CDC and the CDC Foundation focused on the right issues, such as nutrition and obesity, equality of access to health services and biodefense and pandemic planning.
Can you talk about your passion for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment efforts?
HIV/AIDS became a personal issue through my experiences traveling in sub-Saharan Africa and having the opportunity to meet and interact with leaders in the field of prevention and treatment, as well as families and children living with and dying from this disease. These experiences go very deep. And having had these experiences and understanding the magnitude of this disease, particularly the human toll that it’s taking, you can’t return home and just turn away from what needs to be accomplished.
Are there specific moments that stand out in your mind as examples of why public health efforts are so important?
In December 2003, I traveled in a delegation led by the then current secretary of Health and Human Services, Tommy Thompson. The group, which included CDC director, Dr. Julie Gerberding and Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health, visited four countries in Africa to study the impact of HIV/AIDS. In Uganda, we traveled with a CDC-led outreach program that delivers antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to people in their homes in rural areas. We visited the home of a woman named Margaret who was living with AIDS and had been near death before being reached by this program. Her husband and his second wife had both died, and she had many children. She lived in a simple hut with no running water and no electricity. The location was primitive, but the person you found inside was anything but. She was university educated and a teacher.
Walking away from her hut, Dr. Fauci told me that his paradigm on HIV in developing countries had just 
changed. I asked him why. He said that he had previously been told that you couldn’t successfully administer ARV drugs in rural African villages because people wouldn’t know the time to take the drugs. Then he said that Margaret actually knew more about her treatment than an average patient in the U.S.
From this experience, I learned never to underestimate people just because they live in poverty. And I understood that if it wasn’t for this CDC-led program, Margaret would have died, leaving behind another group of orphans to add to the 12 million already resident in sub-Saharan Africa.
Through this trip and many others, I’ve had the opportunity to personally meet and know CDC leaders in several countries. These are fabulous people - dedicated and selfless. They put the welfare of the people they’re serving above their own. And in this respect, I think that whatever we can do from the Foundation to support their efforts on the ground is time very well invested.
AT HOME WITH GARY: Gary Cohen and his wife, Lori, have been married for 22 years. They have three “great kids” - Julia 16, Nicole 11 and Aaron 9. In his spare time, Cohen is an avid car enthusiast and a photographer. His car collection includes some “real cars” like a 1948 MG and a 1967 Sunbeam, as well as a collection of antique toy cars. He cites his disciplined diet and brief but regular exercise routine as his healthiest habits. “I find there are many benefits to these habits. I just feel so much better. I think more clearly, have more energy and can get more done.” The most recent big event on his schedule was a meeting in July with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan; the leaders of UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF and UNDP; and a small group of senior business leaders to discuss the goal of universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment.
Also New to Our Board
Andrew Klepchick is executive vice president of Synovus and president and CEO of Synovus, Financial Management Services. He was one of the founding partners of Creative Financial Group (CFG) and co-founder and president of Robert Andrews Securities. In February 2001, CFG and Robert Andrew Securities were acquired by Synovus, a diversified financial services holding company with more than $29 billion in assets.
Sheila Johnson is CEO of Salamander Hospitality, LLC; a partner in Lincoln Holdings, LLC; and a co-founder of Black Entertainment Television. She serves on the boards of Parsons The New School for Design, The Christopher Reeve Foundation, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, The Jamestown Yorktown Foundation, the United States Equestrian Federation, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts and the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership.
Board Milestones
Veronica Biggins recently completed her second five-year term of service with the CDC Foundation’s Board of Directors. Having reached the two-term limit, she will now join the CDC Foundation’s Honorary Board of Directors.