Dr. Tom Frieden is a physician specializing in internal medicine, infectious diseases, public health, and epidemiology. Dr. Frieden began his public health career in New York City leading efforts that documented and ended the largest outbreak of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis to occur in the US. He was then assigned to India, on loan from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he helped scale up a program for effective tuberculosis diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring that saved millions of lives. Asked to return to New York City to become Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s Health Commissioner, he directed efforts to reduce smoking and other leading causes of death that increased life expectancy by 3 years. He helped start Mike Bloomberg’s global health philanthropy, particularly the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which has helped countries implement measures that will prevent more than 35 million deaths. As Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Frieden oversaw the work that helped end the 2014 West Africa Ebola epidemic.

Dr. Frieden is the founder and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, a global health organization that accelerates action against the world’s deadliest health threats. The organization has partnered with countries around the world to support implementation of programs that will prevent more than 9 million deaths.

His work has appeared in medical journals including The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The Lancet as well as media outlets including the New York Times, Washington Post, and The Wall Street Journal.

Dr. Frieden’s new book, The Formula for Better Health: How to Save Millions of Lives—Including Your Own (MIT Press, September 2025), distills four decades of public health leadership into a clear, actionable framework to extend healthy lives. Drawing from real-world successes and failures, the book bridges the lethal gap between scientific knowledge and life-saving action.