Dr. Rajiv Shah serves as the 16th Administrator of USAID and leads the efforts of more than 9,600 professionals in 80 missions around the world.
Since being sworn in on Dec. 31, 2009, Shah managed the U.S. Government's response to the devastating 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; co-chaired the State Department's first review of American diplomacy and development operations; and now spearheads President Barack Obama's landmark Feed the Future food security initiative. He is also leading “USAID Forward,” an extensive set of reforms to USAID's business model focusing on seven key areas, including procurement, science & technology, and monitoring & evaluation.
Before becoming USAID's Administrator, Shah served as undersecretary for research, education and economics, and as chief scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. At USDA, he launched the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which significantly elevated the status and funding of agricultural research.
Prior to joining the Obama administration, Shah served for seven years with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, including as director of agricultural development in the Global Development Program, and as director of strategic opportunities.
Originally from Detroit, Shah earned his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his master's in health economics from the Wharton School of Business. He attended the London School of Economics and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.
Shah is married to Shivam Mallick Shah and is the father of three children. He lives in Washington, D.C.
Mr. Duguid: Welcome ladies and gentlemen. We are in the U.S. Joint Information Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Today with us are Mr. Tom Sizemore, the Principal Deputy Director for Preparedness and Emergency Operations at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Accompanying him is Mr. Peter Bloland, the Associate Director for Science and Programs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Our guests will talk to you about the current health situation in Haiti. They'll begin with a few remarks and then we'll go to your questions.
English Version:
Chairman's Statement
25 January 2010
SECRETARY CLINTON: Thank you very much, Minister Cannon, and thanks to you and Prime Minister Harper and your government for hosting this conference. The United States looks forward, working with everyone here and all of the other participants, to move toward a conference in New York in March.
Mr. Duguid: Thank you very much, and welcome to this afternoon's telepress conference. I must say at the start that we are having some problems with our telephone line. If you hear us in mid-sentence and then suddenly don't hear us again it means our line has probably dropped. We will try and reestablish connection as soon as possible. Please bear with us. We are quite eager to talk to you all today.
Mr. Duguid: This is Gordon Duguid and I'll be your moderator today. We are at the U.S. Joint Information Center in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Our guests today are Mr. Tim Callaghan who is the Team Leader for USAID's DART Team in Port-au-Prince now, and we also have with us from Save the Children, Kate Conrad, who is the Emergency Communications Director for Save the Children. They'll each start out with a brief statement and then we'll go to your questions.
Mr. Callaghan, would you like to begin?
SUSAN REICHLE: Great. First I want to thank you all of you for taking the time to hear a little bit about what we're doing in Haiti. For me personally, Haiti is a country that actually was the first that I served in as a foreign service officer, and actually lived at the Montana Hotel. They had apartments there. So the country that unfortunately I had some deep knowledge of from my time there almost 20 years ago and now coming back into it in this new position.
ADMINISTRATOR SHAH: Hello. We've been working very hard, so this was a good chance to come together as a team to talk through some difficult issues and make sure we were living up to the President's expectations.
CAPTAIN KIRBY: Good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. I am Captain John Kirby, Navy captain, and I am the spokesman for Joint Task Force Haiti. And on this afternoon's call we have three individuals: Mr. Tim Callaghan, Senior Regional Advisor for Latin America and the Caribbean, from the office of Foreign Disaster Assistance, USAID. Mr. Callaghan will be able to give everybody an update on the status of the delivery of relief supplies -- food, water, and other commodities for the Haitian people. We also have Rear Admiral Mike Rogers.
SCHIEFFER: Good morning again. The pictures continue to shock. The statistics boggle the mind. The latest estimate of the death toll is at a minimum 100,000, but it may eventually be twice that. At least 250,000 have been injured. At least 300,000 people, now, in the capital city are living in the streets.
The rescue efforts go on. The city is relatively calm. But there are increasing incidents of violence and looting as the need for food and water grows.
HUME: I'm Brit Hume in for Chris Wallace, and this is "Fox News Sunday."
Haiti struggles to recover from a devastating earthquake. We'll ask former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton how they'll bring help to Haiti.
Also, we'll update the United States-led rescue and relief efforts with Lieutenant General Ken Keen, who is leading the task force there, and Dr. Rajiv Shah, chief administrator for the USAID.
And we'll get the latest from the area in a report from correspondent Steve Harrigan.
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Last updated: April 30, 2013
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