U.S. Leadership and Global Health Security: Interests, Values, and Freedom From Fear in COVID-19’s Wake
Ambassador Mark Lagon
Chief Policy Officer, Friends of the Global Fight against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
At the leading U.S. nonprofit advocating for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Mark P. Lagon spearheads government advocacy, research, and partnerships with business, faith and civil organizations globally to combat longstanding, current, and inevitable future pandemics.
A respected scholar and former ambassador, Mark Lagon has recently served as a Centennial Fellow and Distinguished Senior Scholar in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. He has served under former Secretaries of State Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell (leading efforts against human trafficking, and for international organizations’ reform) and also with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Republican Policy Committee.
Previously, as President of Freedom House, Mark Lagon led the non-profit organization in its work to defend human rights and promote democratic change. From 2010 to 2014, he was Global Politics and Security Chair at Georgetown University’s Master of Science in Foreign Service Program, and served simultaneously as Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights at the Council on Foreign Relations. Earlier, he worked as Executive Director and CEO of Polaris.
Among his numerous studies of global governance and partnerships is the book Human Dignity and the Future of Global Institutions.
Ambassador Lagon earned his Ph.D. from Georgetown University and his A.B. from Harvard College, both in Government.