MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG is the founder of Bloomberg LP, Philanthropist, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Cities and Climate Change, World Health Organization Global Ambassador for Noncommunicable Diseases, and three-term mayor of New York City.
He is an entrepreneur and philanthropist who served as mayor of New York City from 2002-2013 after leading the company he started in 1981 for 20 years. Since leaving City Hall, he has resumed leadership of Bloomberg LP.
Bloomberg was elected mayor less than two months after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Under his leadership, the city rebounded faster and stronger than expected on issues ranging from education to health to economic development.
A lifelong philanthropist, Bloomberg founded Bloomberg Philanthropies, which focuses on five main areas: public health, education, the environment, the arts, and government innovation. He also leads a number of bi-partisan coalitions on urgent issues, including climate change, illegal guns, immigration reform, and infrastructure investment.
Bloomberg graduated from Johns Hopkins University and Harvard Business School.
JEREMY SHIFFMAN, Ph.D., is Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Health Policy at Johns Hopkins University, with joint appointments in the Bloomberg School of Public Health (Department of International Health) and the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). A political scientist by training, his research focuses on the politics of health policy processes in low-income countries and in global governance. His research has been funded by the Gates, MacArthur, Rockefeller and Open Societies Foundations, among other organizations. His work has appeared in multiple journals, including The Lancet and The American Journal of Public Health. He received the Gary and Stacey Jacobs Award for excellence in health policy research. He has served on multiple technical advisory committees for organizations working in global health, and is on the editorial board of several health policy journals. Across his career, he has received six awards for excellence in teaching. Prior to coming to Johns Hopkins University, he was on the faculty of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and American University’s School of Public Affairs, where he was named Scholar-Teacher of the Year in 2017. He received a BA summa cum laude from Yale University in philosophy, an MA from Johns Hopkins SAIS in international relations, and a PhD from the University of Michigan in political science.