THE PANDEMIC ACCORD AND ITS IMPACT ON ACCESS TO MEDICINES

Summer Galloway
Director, Office of Pandemics and Emerging Threats, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Summer Galloway is the Director of the Office of Pandemics and Emerging Threats within the Office of Global Affairs (OGA) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Galloway leads the Office overseeing a broad policy portfolio including the Global Health Security Agenda, pandemic preparedness and outbreak response policy, combatting antimicrobial resistance, and security policy issues (biosafety and biosecurity, biothreat prevention, and dual-sue research of concern). Prior to joining HHS/OGA, Dr. Galloway served in multiple roles at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), including as Acting Associate Director for Global Health, Preparedness, and Response and Senior Policy Advisor. In these roles, she provided strategic leadership, advised the Center and agency on global health security and pandemic preparedness for respiratory disease threats, as well as complex technical and policy issues related to influenza sample sharing, biodefense, and international access and benefit-sharing. From 2020-2022, Dr. Galloway led teams on the CDC COVID-19 response supporting Health Systems and Worker Safety and Laboratory and Testing task forces. During the response, and in partnership with NIAID and BARDA leadership, spearheaded the establishment of the SARS-CoV-2 Interagency Group to improve the U.S. government response to emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants, including their potential impact on available medical countermeasures.

Prior to joining CDC, Dr. Galloway served as an American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Science and Technology Policy Fellow and Special Advisor in the Department of Defense, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, Chemical, and Biological Defense Programs where she provided leadership and expertise in the development of Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction policy, led strategic coordination efforts across DoD, and international engagements to strengthen biological, nuclear, and border security programs in Eurasia, Africa, and Southeast Asia. She supported DoD’s response to the Ebola response in West Africa and engagement under the Global Health Security Agenda, coordinating policy development, country-level planning, and oversight. Dr. Galloway received undergraduate degrees in biochemistry, cellular and molecular biology, and psychology and a Doctorate in microbiology, with a concentration in virology. Following a post-doctoral fellowship at Emory University School of Medicine, she served as research faculty in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology as an investigator for the NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance and developed and directed innovative graduate-level courses. Dr. Galloway has published multiple peer-reviewed research articles and book chapters on various infectious diseases topics.