Margaret Hamburg

Margaret Hamburg is an American physician and public health leader, co-president of the InterAcademy Partnership and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She previously served as New York City Health Commissioner, where she led major public health initiatives including the city’s tuberculosis response.

Public Health Crises Test Authority, Partnerships, and Public Confidence

At Aspen Ideas: Health, John Nkengasong, Alex Azar and Margaret Hamburg argued that crisis leadership in public health depends less on improvisation than on authority, trust and institutional capacity built before emergencies hit. Drawing on COVID-19, Operation Warp Speed, drug-resistant tuberculosis in New York and Ebola in the DRC, they made the case that leaders must align political power with technical judgment, work through credible partners, and communicate uncertainty without inflating or minimizing risk.

The Aspen InstituteJun 30, 202620 min read