School of Public Health Dean Tapped for White House Role

ALBANY, N.Y. (Nov. 4, 2021) – The dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health has been tapped to serve on a temporary arrangement as a policy analyst for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP).

Dean and SUNY Distinguished Professor David Holtgrave has been asked by the ONDCP, Executive Office of the President to provide subject matter expertise on issues related to translational science — that is, to help use data and research to inform the crafting of substance use policy at the national level.

Holtgrave, who has devoted much of his three-decade career in public health to such translational work, particularly in the areas of HIV and most recently COVID-19, began serving in the part-time role in September and will continue through mid-December. He is performing these duties in conjunction with his role at UAlbany, under an interagency personnel act arrangement between the ONDCP and the University.

"I am honored by this opportunity to help devise ways to best use science to inform federal substance use policy," said Holtgrave. "Given the levels of deaths due to overdose in the U.S., there is great urgency to using the most cutting-edge information possible to shape, implement and evaluate the most impactful programs possible."