Speaker Profile

Dr. Hamburg is an internationally recognized leader in public health and medicine.  She is the immediate past Chair/President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and just completed her term as foreign secretary of the National Academy of Medicine, where she served as senior advisor on international matters and liaison with other Academies of Medicine around the world.

Dr. Hamburg is a former Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where she was known for advancing regulatory science, modernizing regulatory pathways, and globalization of the agency. Before this, she was founding vice president and senior scientist at the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a foundation dedicated to reducing nuclear, chemical and biological threats. Other positions have included Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, Health Commissioner for New York City, and Assistant Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease. 

Dr. Hamburg currently sits on the Boards of The Nature Conservancy, The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization, The Simons Foundation, The Commonwealth Fund, The Urban Institute, The Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Museum of Natural History, as well as the Board of Directors of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Dr Hamburg also serves in various advisory roles, including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine Standing Committee on Emerging Infectious Diseases and 21st Century Health Threats, Harvard University Global Advisory Council, the Scientific Advisory Committee for Global Health of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Ending Pandemics and chairs the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows. She also chairs the Joint Coordinating Group of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovation and is co-chair of the WHO Expert Advisory Committee on Developing Global Standards for Governance and Oversight of Human Genome Editing.

The recipient of numerous honors and awards, Dr Hamburg is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Council on Foreign Relations, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, as well as an Honorary Fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American College of Physicians.

Dr. Hamburg is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Medical School.