Michael Merson was the Wolfgang Joklik Professor of Medicine and Professor of Global Health at Duke University. He was the founding director of the Duke Global Health Institute and of the SingHealth Duke-NUS Global Health Institute. He served as Vice President and Vice Provost for Global Affairs at Duke University and as Vice Chancellor for Duke-National University of Singapore Affairs. He is also Visiting Professor of Global Health at NYU School of Global Public Health.

Dr. Merson served as director for the World Health Organization (WHO) programs on Diarrheal Diseases and Acute Respiratory Infections, and subsequently the WHO Global Program on AIDS. After WHO, he joined Yale University as its first Dean of Public Health and the Anna M. R. Lauder Professor of Public Health. He also was the Director of the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on AIDS at Yale University.

Dr. Merson is currently involved in policy related research related to the COVID-19 pandemic, is a member of a leadership team undertaking pilot projects on use of Paxlovid in sub-Saharan Africa, and is engaged in an initiative that is seeking to build trust in public health.

He has authored over 180 articles, is the senior editor of the leading global health textbook “Global Health: Disease, Programs, Systems, and Policies” and co-author of The AIDS Pandemic: Searching for a Global Response on the history of the global response to AIDS. He has served in advisory capacities for UNAIDS, WHO, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, World Bank, World Economic Forum, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and most recently been an advisor to various private sector entities on the COVID-19 pandemic. He has two honorary degrees and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine.