MARKING THE PASSAGE OF A GLOBAL HEALTH CHAMPION

Dr. Melinda Moore, my friend and colleague, has just passed on to eternity. I am sad, but more than just sad, I want to memorialize this amazing woman who gave her life to service in Global Health. She had a broad geographic reach in our world. Melinda was absolutely central to a successful effort to incorporate considerations of pandemics and epidemics within the policy portfolio of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the 1990s. I want to to honor her contribution in this region.

Make no mistake, our politics were different. She was a Republican and I am an avowed Democrat. The space we call Global Health transcends those petty distinctions and should always do so. Melinda was a consummate professional who had a gift for collaboration, humor and relationships with others. She was  with a force of nature.

 After our common time in EIS (late 1970s)  we met again during the Clinton Administration. The IOM (which is now the NAM) had published a groundbreaking report from their forum on Emerging Infections. The group was led by Joshua Lederberg, and they outlined the factors of emergence of new epidemics and pandemics. This new framework was revolutionary in Medicine. It articulated how our human activities were actually facilitating and enhancing our human community risk of pandemics.It was followed up by a broad Interagency study which exhorted the United States to use every forum to advance concerns about pandemic detection and preparedness for Emerging Infections.  

Melinda and I met up again when I led a team from the UW to “crash” a meeting in Vancouver, BC of the International Science and Technology working group of APEC in 1993.Working from CDC, Melinda had initiated discussions at a Beijing meeting the year before. We found we were in British Columbia with APEC  under a common flag: the imperative for economic development to consider pandemic risk and emerging infections for populations as a major ongoing concern for such development.

 The order of the day was lofty---to convince a cooperation of 21 countries to incorporate this most basic risk—emerging infections--- into their portfolio. Another of our team was Gerald Hane from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under Clinton. Essentially we coordinated our work over the following decade  like dribbling a basketball up the court to the basket. We passed the ball depending on who was in position to make the advance to our goal….academic studies of economic impacts, USG concerns about trade embargoes and options, high level policy circulars. Whatever it took, we did it for seven years. Finally in 2000 the Leaders statement of APEC was crafted to include emerging infections. A temporary task force health was established. It took years for APEC to establish a permanent working group on health, but that is now in place in no small way due to the efforts of Melinda and our collaboration.  

Melinda Moore had genius in defining our collective obstacles and opportunities. As she moved to Rand Corporation she orchestrated table tops which exposed the fragmented and ineffectual response which was extant in most countries. She was always professional, reliable and scholarly. She was also humorous, empathetic and just plain fun to work with.  

Dr. Melinda Moore will be missed in many corners of the world. She contributed greatly to the overall mission of Global Health. She has many dear friends and collaborators sprinkled across continents. We will all miss her..our sincerest condolences and prayers to her family.