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 Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

. In 2022, she joined the

Kaiser Family Foundation KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, w ...

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 (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

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

Erode Erode (; īrōṭu), is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Kaveri river and is surrounded by the Western Ghats. Erode is the seventh largest urban agglomeration in Tamil Nadu. It is the administrativ ...

. At age 16, she began attending

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

, and graduated in 1997 with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

degree in

molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

. In 2000, she received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in

epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and Risk factor (epidemiology), determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population, and application of this knowledge to prevent dise ...

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 university, private research university primarily based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was founded as the Johns Hopkins ...

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 is the medical school of the University of Washington, a public research university in Seattle, Washington. According to ''U.S. News & World Report''s 2022 Best Graduate School rankings, University ...

, she earned a

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

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 a teaching hospital located in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. It is the original and largest clinical education and research facility of Harvard Medical School/Harvar ...

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 Gates Foundation is an American private foundation founded by Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates. Based in Seattle, Washington, it was launched in 2000 and is reported to be the third largest charitable foundation in the world, holding $ ...

. She then joined the

New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (also known as NYC Health) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for public health along with issuing birth certificates, dog licenses, and conducting restaura ...

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 magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' and ''

The Atlantic ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 185 ...

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

of U.S. president-elect

. 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, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a non-denominational all-male institutio ...

medical school.

Recognition

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

Delta Omega Delta Omega Society () is an international honorary society for studies in public health. It was founded in 1924 at the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. The society has chartered 122 chapters ...

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 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, ''Peopl ...

s ''25 Women Changing the World'' in 2017 for her contributions to health care. Gounder was elected a fellow of 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 2016 and elected to the

National Academy of Medicine The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), known as the Institute of Medicine (IoM) until 2015, is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Medicine is a part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineerin ...

in 2023.

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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

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 American 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 Members of the National Academy of Medicine