John E. Lange

Ambassador John E. Lange, Senior Fellow for Global Health Diplomacy at the United Nations Foundation, serves as the Foundation’s primary focal point for global health diplomacy activities and its wide-ranging work with the World Health Organization. Lange worked from 2009-2013 at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, where he engaged in high-level advocacy with international organizations and African governments. In 2012, he was the founding Chair of the Polio Partners Group of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative and served as Co-Chair for four years. Ambassador Lange had a distinguished 28-year career in the Foreign Service at the U.S. Department of State, where he was a pioneer in the field of global health diplomacy. He served as the Special Representative on Avian and Pandemic Influenza; Deputy U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator at the inception of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief; and U.S. Ambassador to Botswana (1999-2002), where HIV/AIDS was his signature issue. Lange led the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, as Chargé d'Affaires during the August 7, 1998, terrorist bombing. Earlier, he had tours of duty in Geneva, Lomé, Paris and Mexico City. Ambassador Lange co-chaired the U.S. Institute of Medicine committee that produced the 2014 report, Investing in Global Health Systems: Sustaining Gains, Transforming Lives. He is the author of a case study on pandemic influenza negotiations, has delivered numerous lectures on issues related to global health diplomacy, and writes a blog on global health in The Huffington Post. He has an M.S. degree from the National War College and J.D. and B.A. degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.