Mitchell Wolfe is a medical epidemiologist, global health strategist, and diplomat with extensive global public health experience, he had 24 years of government service, 21 with U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 3 years with HHS Office of Global Affairs, most recently as the CDC’s chief medical officer from 2019 to 2022. He has also held positions as deputy assistant secretary for global affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Global Affairs and as the CDC country director in Vietnam and in Thailand. In these roles, he has been a senior adviser to U.S. government leaders, led the implementation of the CDC’s global health strategy, and represented the HHS and CDC to the highest levels of foreign governments, multilateral institutions such as the World Health Organization, the private sector, and nongovernmental organizations. He has extensive experience in working to combat global infectious disease threats, pandemic preparedness and response, and addressing non-communicable health issues.

Earlier in his career, he was a project officer for a large U.S.-based HIV/AIDS cohort study and was involved in the U.S. government response to anthrax attacks, as well as investigations of lead poisoning, heat-related mortality, syphilis outbreaks, and foodborne and waterborne diseases. Dr. Wolfe is a graduate of the CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program. He earned his medical degree from the University of Vermont College of Medicine, his master of public health degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara, in English literature. In 2020, Dr. Wolfe retired from the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service at the rank of rear admiral.