Joe Biden nominates 11 functionaries, including Indian-Americans Atul Gawande, Rahul Gupta

President Joe Biden on Tuesday (local time) announced his intent to nominate 11 individuals including two Indian-Americans to serve in key roles. As per the White House statement, the nominated persons are - Gabe Camarillo, Alan Estevez, Jeff Lane Flake, Kent Doyle Logsdon, Lisa Wang, Chester John Culver, Rich Trumka Jr, James A Diossa, Terrence K Wright, with two Indian-Americans Rahul Gupta and Atul Gawande. Rahul Gupta is the nominee for Director of National Drug Control Policy, while Atul Gawande is the nominee for Assistant Administrator of the Bureau for Global Health, United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The son of an Indian diplomat, Rahul was born in India and grew up in the suburbs of Washington, DC. He is a national and global thought leader and a driver of innovative public policies on health issues. Dr Gupta serves as an advisor to several organizations and task forces on local, national and international public health policy. He also led the development of the state’s Zika action plan and its preparedness efforts during the Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak. Atul Gawande is also founder and chair of Ariadne Labs, a joint center for health systems innovation at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, and of Lifebox, a nonprofit organization making surgery safer globally. During the coronavirus pandemic, he co-founded CIC Health, which operates COVID-19 testing and vaccination nationally, and served as a member of the Biden transition COVID-19 Advisory Board. In addition, Atul has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 1998 and written four New York Times best-selling books: Complications, Better, The Checklist Manifesto, and Being Mortal. Gabe Camarillo is the nominee for Under Secretary of the Army, Department of Defense; Alan Estevez for Under Secretary for Industry and Security, Department of Commerce; Jeff Lane Flake for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Turkey; Kent Doyle Logsdon for Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Republic of Moldova; Lisa Wang for Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance, Department of Commerce; Chester John Culver for Member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corporation; Rich Trumka Jr for Commissioner of the Consumer Product Safety Commission; James A Diossa for Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation; and Terrence K Wright for Member of the Board of Trustees of the James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation.