Dean Jonathan Mermin

Jonathan Mermin, MD, MPH, is the ninth Dean of Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Senior Vice President, Columbia University Irving Medical Center. A distinguished epidemiologist, researcher, and organizational leader, Dean Mermin has spent decades advancing public health science, practice, and policy. He previously served as director of the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), where he oversaw an annual budget of $1.5 billion and 1,800 staff, and led national efforts to prevent infectious diseases, reduce health disparities, and translate evidence into effective public health action. In this role, he managed a broad portfolio of surveillance, research, policy, and programs, working with health departments and community-based organizations to improve the health of millions of people in the U.S. and around the world. He is also a retired two-star Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service. 

Dean Mermin is deeply committed to supporting innovative, meaningful research, implementing effective programs, and mentoring the next generation of public health leaders. He was director of CDC-Uganda from 1999 to 2006, and CDC-Kenya from 2006 to 2009. He collaborated with the Ugandan and Kenyan governments and non-governmental organizations to research and implement cost-effective interventions for people with HIV and their families that became the standard of care. He co-led the first U.S. government-funded program providing antiretroviral therapy to people outside the U.S., which was a guiding force for the PEPFAR initiative. While in Africa and the U.S., he led CDC’s responses to outbreaks of mpox, Ebola, HIV, and other infectious diseases. Throughout his career, Dean Mermin has emphasized data-driven decision-making and collaboration with communities most affected by health issues. He has authored and co-authored over 250 peer-reviewed publications.

Dean Mermin earned his AB from Harvard University, his MD from the Stanford University School of Medicine, and his MPH from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of California, San Francisco, and his preventive medicine residency at CDC and the California Department of Public Health. He completed an Epidemic Intelligence Service Fellowship at CDC.