Dr. John N. Nkengasong serves as Executive Director for Higher Education, Collaboratives, and Strategic Initiatives at the Mastercard Foundation. Previously, he worked as Ambassador at Large for the U.S. Department of State, where he managed the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief and created the Bureau for Global Health and Security in 2022.
As the first director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Nkengasong transformed the organization into an autonomous health agency of the African Union. His leadership during COVID-19 involved coordination with governments across 55 member states and secured 400 million vaccine doses during critical shortages.
His earlier roles include acting deputy principal director of the Center for Global Health and chief of the International Laboratory Branch in the Division of Global HIV and TB at the CDC.
Dr. Nkengasong received numerous prestigious honors, including the 2020 Global Goalkeeper Award, placement on Time Magazine’s 2021 Most Influential People list, and recognition in Fortune’s 2021 World’s 50 Greatest Leaders. He earned membership in the National Academy of Medicine (2022) and became the first Virchow Prize laureate for Global Health. In 2023, CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa named him African of the Year.
His contributions to public health research appear in more than 250 peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Nkengasong holds the distinction of knighthood from the governments of Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and Cameroon.