Member Profiles
John Auerbach, MBA, is associate director for policy at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He oversees the Office of the Associate Director for Policy (OADP), which focuses on the promotion of public health and prevention as components of health care and payment reform and health system transformation.
Prior to his appointment at CDC, he was a distinguished professor of practice in health sciences and the director of the Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice at Northeastern University from 2012 to 2014.
He was the commissioner of public health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2012. Under his leadership the Department of Public Health developed new and innovative programs to address racial and ethnic disparities, to promote wellness (including the Mass in Motion campaign), to combat chronic disease and to support the successful implementation of the state's health care reform initiative. Prior to his appointment as commissioner, Mr. Auerbach had been the executive director of the Boston Public Health Commission for nine years, during which time health equity, emergency preparedness, and tobacco prevention became priorities. In addition to the city's public health programs, he oversaw emergency medical services, homeless services, and substance abuse services for Boston.
He had previously worked for a decade at the state health department, first as the chief of staff and later as an assistant commissioner overseeing the HIV/AIDS Bureau during the early years of the epidemic.