Healthcare Connoissuer
Retired Commander Dr. Harlem J. Gunness, PhD, MPH has built a distinguished career in public service, spanning more than two decades across FQHCs, community-based organizations, hospitals, universities, and local, state, and federal government agencies. His work as a public health practitioner has engaged diverse and often vulnerable populations—including low-income individuals, people experiencing homelessness, veterans, immigrants, refugees, asylees, and racial and ethnic minorities.
Among his notable accomplishments: he directed the unprecedented Ebola response operations at JFK International Airport, which led to the identification of New York City’s sole Ebola patient; established a public health consortium with NYC Health + Hospitals and the Queens Borough President’s Office to advance COVID-19 health equity—an effort that culminated in his award-winning documentary, Bring it to the People; and developed a successful COVID-19 surveillance program at a mid-size university, for which the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene invited him to present best practices. Additionally, Dr. Gunness has led hundreds of epidemiological investigations of highly infectious communicable diseases—including MERS-CoV, multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, and SARS—to prevent their introduction and spread within the United States.
Dr. Gunness currently serves as a Trustee with the U.S. Surgeon General’s Commissioned Officers Foundation, where he works alongside former U.S. Surgeons General, deputies, and other retired public health dignitaries. Widely regarded as a strategic connector and network-builder, he is deeply passionate about health system optimization and navigating complex spaces to improve the health of patients, communities, and populations.
