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Tom Frieden, MD, MPH

President and CEO
Resolve to Save Lives

Dr. Frieden has led and succeeded in the fight against health threats in the United States and around the world. He is a physician trained in internal medicine, infectious diseases, public health, and epidemiology, former director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and former commissioner of the New York City Health Department. Dr. Frieden is currently President and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives.

Dr. Frieden began his public health career in New York City leading efforts to document and end the largest outbreak of multidrug resistant tuberculosis ever to occur in the United States. He then worked in India supporting the government to scale up a program for effective tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring that saved millions of lives. Asked to return to New York City to become Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Health Commissioner, he directed efforts that reduced smoking and other leading causes of death and increased life expectancy by 3 years. As Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Frieden helped end the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic and oversaw the agency’s responses to H1N1 influenza, Zika, and more.

Dr. Frieden founded Resolve to Save Lives in 2017 to partner with countries to address the world’s deadliest health threats, including cardiovascular disease and epidemics. In the organization’s first 8 years, these efforts have supported actions that will prevent 9 million deaths. RTSL has partnered with more than 50 countries, primarily in Africa, to find infectious disease threats faster and stop them sooner. RTSL joined with the World Health Organization to call for the global elimination of artificial trans fat. More than 50 countries, accounting for more than half of the global population and nearly two thirds of the estimated global consumption of trans fat, have now taken action to become trans fat free. RTSL has also worked with more than 30 countries to improve diagnosis, treatment, and management of more than 40 million patients with high blood pressure, which is the world’s leading single cause of death.

Dr. Frieden has been awarded honorary doctorate degrees by New York University, Tufts University, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Oglethorpe University, and Oberlin College. He has received dozens of prestigious awards including the Julius B. Richmond Award from Harvard University, Time Magazine 100 most influential people, New York 1’s New Yorker of the Year, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Since 2017, he has served as a member of the Independent Monitoring Board for global polio eradication.

Dr. Frieden has written more than 300 scientific articles and more than 100 essays. He appears frequently on television and radio and in print media to identify risks and solutions to emerging health threats, assess progress with the control of disease, and provide leadership on a range of health, health care, and public health topics.

His book, The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own, will be released on September 30, 2025 (MIT Press). The book distills four decades of public health leadership into a clear, actionable framework. It includes a playbook for societal health progress and hype-free advice on personal health. Proceeds will go to organizations Resolve to Save Lives supports to work for health progress around the world.

Disclosure(s): No financial relationships to disclose.

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