Céline R. Gounder (born April 22, 1977) is an American physician and medical journalist who specializes in infectious diseases and global health. She was a member of the

COVID-19 Advisory Board The COVID-19 Advisory Board was announced in November 2020 by President-elect of the United States Joe Biden as part of his Presidential transition of Joe Biden, presidential transition. It was co-chaired by physicians David A. Kessler, Marcella ...

transition team of then-incoming U.S. president Joe Biden. In 2022, she joined the

Kaiser Family Foundation KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation), also known as The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF since its legal name can cause confusion as it is no longer a ...

as senior fellow and editor-at-large for public health at Kaiser Health News.

Early life

Céline R. Gounder was born in the U.S. on April 22, 1977, the daughter of a French mother, Nicole Pantanelli, from

Normandy Normandy (; french: link=no, Normandie ; nrf, Normaundie, Nouormandie ; from Old French , plural of ''Normant'', originally from the word for "northman" in several Scandinavian languages) is a geographical and cultural region in Northwestern ...

and Raj Natarajan Gounder, a Tamil-Indian father from Perumpalayam near

Erode Erode () is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in the state, after Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Tiruppur and Salem. It is also the administrative headquarters of the E ...

. At age 16, she began attending

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, and graduated in 1997 with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in

molecular biology Molecular biology is the branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecular basis of biological activity in and between cells, including biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactions. The study of chemical and physi ...

. In 2000, she received a

Master of Science A Master of Science ( la, Magisterii Scientiae; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree in the field of science awarded by universities in many countries or a person holding such a degree. In contrast to ...

degree in

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...

from

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is the public health graduate school of Johns Hopkins University, a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. As the second independent, degree-granting institution for research in epi ...

with her thesis "Field evaluation of a rapid immunochromatographic test for tuberculosis". At the

University of Washington School of Medicine The University of Washington School of Medicine (UWSOM) is a large public medical school in the northwest United States, located in Seattle and affiliated with the University of Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Grad ...

, she earned a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

degree in 2004. While in medical school, she co-founded the International Health Group, which advocates for doctors training to serve disadvantaged people around the world. She completed her residency in internal medicine at

Massachusetts General Hospital Massachusetts General Hospital (Mass General or MGH) is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the third oldest general hospital in the United Stat ...

Career

Gounder's first position was as a post-doctoral fellow at

, where she researched TB and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and served as Director for Delivery in the Consortium to Respond Effectively to the AIDS/TB Epidemic, which was funded by the

Gates Foundation The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), a merging of the William H. Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation, is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was ...

. She then joined the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene working on control of TB in the city. Starting in 2018, Gounder practiced medicine part-time while addressing her long time concerns with health issues as a medical journalist. She was on the editorial advisory board of

TEDMED TEDMED is an annual conference focusing on health and medicine, with a year-round web-based community. TEDMED is an independent event operating under license from the nonprofit TED conference. Background , TEDMED staff operates from Stamfor ...

and has published articles about infectious disease and other medical topics in media including ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...

'', and has appeared on TV news and talk shows. In 2017, Gounder founded Just Human Productions, a non-profit media organization that uses storytelling in an effort to impact public health. Gounder produced the podcast ''American Diagnosis'', focusing on diverse health topics. With the rise of COVID-19, she created the podcast ''Epidemic'', which she cohosted with Biden-advisor

Ron Klain Ronald Alan Klain ( ; born August 8, 1961) is an American attorney, political consultant, and former lobbyist serving as White House chief of staff under President Joe Biden. A Democrat, he was previously chief of staff to two vice presidents ...

. On November 9, 2020, Gounder was named as a member of the

of U.S. president-elect Joe Biden. As of 2021, Gounder is also an assistant professor at the

NYU New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

medical school.

Recognition

While pursuing her master's degree at Johns Hopkins, Gounder was inducted into the

Delta Omega Delta Omega () is the honorary society for studies in public health, founded at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. History Delta Omega was founded in 1924 by two graduate students at the Johns Hopkins University B ...

Public Health Honor Society in 2000. In 2004 when she graduated from University of Washington School of Medicine, she was awarded the James W. Haviland Award for "outstanding clinical competence and for unusual promise as a leader of medicine in the future". In 2010, she was awarded the W. Leight Thompson, MD Excellence in Research Award at Johns Hopkins. Also that year, she was the recipient of the Arthur M. Dannenberg, Jr. Award at Johns Hopkins, and was an Ashoka Changemaker Finalist. In 2016, Gounder was elected a fellow for the

Infectious Diseases Society of America The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) is a medical association representing physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases. It was founded in 1963 and is based in Arlington, Virginia. ...

. In 2017, Gounder was listed in ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People ...

s ''25 Women Changing the World'' in 2017 for her contributions to health care.

Personal life

Gounder was married to sports journalist

Grant Wahl Grant Wahl (December 2, 1973 – December 10, 2022) was an American sports journalist and soccer analyst for CBS Sports, a senior writer for ''Sports Illustrated'' and a correspondent for Fox Sports, based in New Yorkers in journalism, New York ...

from 2001 until his sudden death in 2022. They lived with their two dogs in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gounder, Celine 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American women physicians 21st-century American physicians Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Princeton University alumni University of Washington School of Medicine alumni Women science writers Fellows of the Infectious Diseases Society of America American people of French descent American people of Indian Tamil descent American women writers of Indian descent 1977 births American women non-fiction writers American science writers American physicians of Indian descent