July 1, 2026
The O’Neill Institute congratulates Dr. Charles Holmes and the University of Michigan on his appointment as the new dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health, one of the nation’s leading public health institutions. Dr. Holmes is a distinguished scholar and former director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health – a joint initiative of the O’Neill Institute and Georgetown University Medical Center. Dr. Holmes joined the O’Neill Institute after a pathbreaking career, serving as chief medical officer and deputy U.S. global AIDS coordinator for the PEPFAR program in the Department of State. He also spent four years leading a large research institute in Zambia, working to improve the capacity of the country’s healthcare system.
Throughout his remarkable career, he has brought respected leadership, expertise, and humanity to each role that he has occupied. We are proud of Dr. Holmes and the important legacy he leaves at O’Neill. As an internationally recognized physician-scientist and global health leader with decades of experience in infectious disease, health policy, implementation, and global partnerships, he is an excellent choice to prepare the next generation of public health leaders.
Dr. Holmes’s deep expertise has been recognized throughout Georgetown. “Charles Holmes’s appointment as Dean of the University of Michigan School of Public Health is a tremendous gain for Michigan and for global public health — though it is, candidly, Georgetown’s loss of an exceptional colleague whose scientific rigor, humility, and gift for bringing people together around shared purpose have shaped a generation of leaders from Zambia to Malawi,” said Deus Bazira, Director of Georgetown’s Global Health Institute.
Throughout the Georgetown community, it has been noted how greatly the University of Michigan stands to gain by its recruitment of Dr. Holmes. Even more, “the field as a whole stands to benefit immensely from his leadership at this critical moment, offered Dr. Bazira.
“Dr. Holmes is a pioneer and thought leader with the exceptional talent to draw the brightest minds around him and lift them up,” said Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin, O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy, Georgetown University, and O’Neill Institute Faculty Director. “What I have found most compelling in Charles is his deep emotional intelligence and prioritization of values. His brilliance in public health bends towards intellectual excellence, rigorous research, and the care for others. This is why NGOs, civil society organizations, and stakeholders around the world trust him and want to work with him.”
“I have had the privilege to know and work closely with Charles, and it is clear to me that he leads with a sturdy set of principles,” said Professor Lawrence O. Gostin, Founding Director, O’Neill Institute and Distinguished University Professor, Georgetown University. “His focus is on collaboration and the execution of ideas, and his work domestically and globally captures this. I am not surprised that Charles has always been viewed in various African nations and elsewhere, including in the United States, as a valued and trusted partner.”
At the O’Neill Institute, Dr. Holmes was a special leader and thought partner among his colleagues. Charles has been engaged in “important work with PEPFAR for many years” and “his work to implement longer-acting PrEP in Malawi has been a valued complement to my team’s efforts to overcome policy barriers to the same medications and HIV treatment in the U.S.,” said Jeff Crowley, director of the Center for HIV and Infectious Disease Policy at O’Neill.
Dr. Holmes’s appointment will begin July 1, 2026.