Staff Bio
Benjamin Park, M.D.
Global Health Center (GHC)
Dr. Park is Director of the Division of Global Health Protection. In this position, he leads the CDC group that protects Americans from global health threats by strengthening public health systems abroad.
CDC role
Dr. Park directs CDC's efforts to build and strengthen health systems worldwide and help countries prepare for public health emergencies to create a safer America and a safer world.
Previous experience
Dr. Park was recently a CDC staff detailed to the Global Fund in Geneva, Switzerland, where he played a pivotal part in developing and overseeing financing for COVID-19 pandemic response efforts. His work there focused on pandemic preparedness, health systems strengthening, infection prevention and control, antimicrobial resistance, surveillance, laboratory capacity building, and community engagement.
Prior to his time at the Global Fund, Dr. Park established and led CDC’s International Infection Control Branch within the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. Starting in 2014 and under his leadership, this program developed collaborative initiatives across more than 25 countries using evidence-based approaches to enhance disease detection, prevention, and containment in healthcare settings.
Dr. Park began his public health career in 2002 as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer in the Mycotic Diseases Branch. Over his 12 years working on fungal diseases domestically and globally, he led significant surveillance systems and outbreak investigations—including the notable 2012 fungal meningitis outbreak—one of the largest healthcare-associated outbreaks in U.S. history.
Areas of expertise
Dr. Park has over 22 years of experience improving both international and domestic public health systems. He has extensive expertise in healthcare-associated infections, IPC, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), pandemic preparedness, epidemiology, and financing.
His expertise has been instrumental during high-profile global responses such as Ebola and COVID-19. He has received numerous accolades for his contributions to public health, including the HHS Secretary Award for Distinguished Service. Additionally, Dr. Park has authored or co-authored over 100 publications and book chapters in scientific literature.