2022 -- H 8019

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     STATE OF RHODE ISLAND

IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2022

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H O U S E   R E S O L U T I O N

CONGRATULATING DR. ASHISH JHA ON BEING NAMED COVID-19 COORDINATOR

BY PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN AND THANKING HIM FOR PROVIDING HIS ERUDITION,

LEADERSHIP, AND CALMING REASSURANCES TO ALL RHODE ISLANDERS DURING

THE PANDEMIC

     Introduced By: Representatives Shekarchi, Blazejewski, Hull, Filippi, Fogarty,
Williams, J Lombardi, Kennedy, Ajello, and Cortvriend

     Date Introduced: March 22, 2022

     Referred To: House read and passed

     WHEREAS, Dr. Ashish Jha, a globally recognized expert on pandemic preparedness and

response as well as on health policy research and practice, and the Dean of the Brown University

School of Public Health, has been named COVID-19 coordinator by President Joe Biden, and is

tasked with implementing the National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan and managing the ongoing

risks from COVID; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. Ashish Jha was born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India. He moved to Canada

and in 1983, relocated to the United States. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Columbia

University, received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and trained as a resident in Internal

Medicine at the University of California. After returning to Boston, he completed his fellowship

in General Medicine from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and

ultimately completed his Master of Public Health degree at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of

Public Health; and

     WHEREAS, In 2013, Dr. Jha was elected as a member of the National Academy of

Medicine, and was later named K.T. Li Professor of Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan

School of Public Health and Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI). In February

of 2020, just days before the pandemic was declared, he was named Dean of Brown University's

School of Public Health and has helped guide the University through the pandemic and Rhode

Island’s vaccine rollout; and

     WHEREAS, Dr. Jha is globally recognized as an expert on the pandemic in terms of

preparedness and response, as well as health policy research and practice, and although almost 80

percent of adults in the United States are fully vaccinated and over 100 million are boosted, the

pandemic is not over and there is still much more work to be done; and

     WHEREAS, Over the course of President Biden's term, Dr. Jha has had national

exposure, participating in a number of Congressional hearings on the COVID-19 vaccine rollout

and the global impact of the pandemic. In addition, he has advised the White House on the

national COVID-19 preparedness plan, and there is no doubt that he is eminently worthy of his

newly appointed title and our gratitude; now, therefore be it

     RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island hereby

congratulates Dr. Ashish Jha on being named COVID-19 Coordinator for the Nation by President

Joe Biden and thanks him for providing his erudition, leadership, and calming reassurances to all

Rhode Islanders during the pandemic; and be it further

     RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to

transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Dr. Ashish Jha.

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