John Auerbach is the Director of Intergovernmental and Strategic Affairs at CDC. As such, he is the lead strategic advisor on CDC engagement with the government agencies at the federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial levels, public health partners, and other external partners. Within the agency, he assists the Director in the development of priority initiatives. Over the course of a thirty-year career, he has held senior public health positions at the federal, state, and local levels.
He was formerly the President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), where he oversaw TFAH's work to promote sound public health policy and make disease prevention a national priority through research, reports, communications campaigns, and government relations. During his tenure, TFAH’s budget grew by 50% as it doubled the number of philanthropic grants. TFAH’s work focused on a wide range of topics from emergency preparedness to healthy aging to obesity prevention to the promotion of a robust and modern public health system.
As Associate Director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) he oversaw policy and the agency’s collaborative efforts with CMS, commercial payers, and large health systems. He also served as the Acting Director of the Office for State, Tribal, Local and Territorial Support.
During his six years as the Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, he developed innovative programs to promote health equity, combat chronic and infectious disease, and support the successful implementation of the state’s health care reform initiative. He served as the President of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials in 2010-2011. Auerbach was previously the Director of the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and a founding member of the National Association of State and Territorial AIDS Directors.
As Boston’s health commissioner for nine years, he directed homeless, substance abuse, and emergency medical services for the city as well as a wide range of public health divisions. During his tenure he was a board member of the National Association of County and City Health Officials.
In addition to his government service, Auerbach was a professor of practice in health sciences and director of the Institute on Urban Health Research and Practice at Northeastern University and the director of the largest Women, Infants and Children program in Massachusetts.