Public Service Innovators -- The Practice of Global Medicine: Jack C. Chow MPA '96

As the country's first ambassador-rank diplomat appointed to an international public health mission, Dr. Jack C. Chow's plans of helping others as a small town doctor have far surpassed his initial high school expectations. Today, his career encompasses not only the treatment of individual patients, but entire populations, particularly those threatened by the global pandemic of AIDS.

Dr. Chow, who serves under Colin Powell as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Health and Science, was recently named Powell's Special Representative for HIV/AIDS.

"I believe America is the only country to appoint a senior diplomat dedicated solely to fighting global AIDS," said Dr. Chow, "and I hope it will spur on other countries to appoint their own envoys to work with the United States to create a coalition of the caring and committed in support of people living with HIV/AIDS."

Accepted into an unusual program through the University of California that combined disciplines, Dr. Chow was prepared for both a traditional career in medicine as well as a career in public service. Stints followed with the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, where he handled budgets for the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as the White House science office and the National Institutes of Health.

By 1995, he entered the mid-career program at the Kennedy School, where he wrote and published a paper on health as it relates to international security. "I see HIV/AIDS as a disease of mass destruction," said Dr. Chow. "AIDS infiltrates, permeates and devastates countries that are ill prepared, causing demographic implosions. There are some 51 countries that will see a significant decline in population due to AIDS, particularly among the 18 to 44 age-group, a dynamic affecting the future of many countries."

As the son of Chinese immigrants, Dr. Chow's commitment to community
started early in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he and his two brothers were
instilled with a strong sense of allegiance to the country that had given
so much to their first-generation family. "I took this to heart," said Dr.
Chow, and so did his brothers, both of whom also work for the government: one at the EPA, the other at the Department of Labor. "Public service is part of my family's values," he added.

With 14-hour days the norm and many working weekends, Dr. Chow is reaching out to international NGOs, the private sector and the public. His goal is to rally the international community to create a coalition to increase the public health investment, mobilize civil society and spur political leaders to take action against AIDS.

"In the past our diplomacy was focused on confronting political, military and other crises, and now that HIV is proving its devastating power we need a new era of global AIDS diplomacy."