Maximus (NYSE:MMS), a leading provider of government services worldwide, announced the formation of Maximus Public Health (MPH) to serve as a resource to governments as they respond to COVID-19 and other public health threats. As a leading partner to government in delivering essential health, human services, and other benefit programs, Maximus is assisting federal, state, and local government in the COVID-19 response across the country. These efforts include providing health information and COVID-19 test results through our citizen engagement centers and supporting contact tracing efforts in key states and counties across the nation.
MPH guides and supports government public health programs in meeting their public health needs. Led by Andrew Sommers who holds a doctorate in health services research (PhD) and Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), the team comprises public health clinicians, researchers, epidemiologists, biostatisticians, and geospatial analysts.
Dr. Sommers is a leading expert in the prevention and control of infectious diseases that can cause epidemics and pandemics like COVID-19. He joins Maximus from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where he was a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Health Policy, Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE). In this role, he managed a portfolio covering epidemiologic investigations into infectious diseases like hepatitis, Zika and Ebola.
"The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the urgent and overdue need to significantly strengthen our public health infrastructure across the United States," Sommers said. "Maximus provides expertise to support HHS, the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), and numerous states with their responses to COVID-19. Maximus Public Health’s mission is to promote public health and to help governments respond to emerging infectious diseases, weather-related catastrophes, and other public health threats."
MPH will collaborate with academic partners, conduct research, and expand partnerships with public health agencies, healthcare providers, data analytics platforms, and industry partners to serve as a resource to government in developing their public health strategies. This collaboration focuses on preparedness and effective response to future health crises. Initially, MPH is supporting efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19 and toward the purchasing and distribution of vaccines.
“Maximus Public Health enables the Company to support the delivery of high-quality, evidence-based services needed for pandemic preparedness and control,” said Bruce Caswell, CEO of Maximus. “The MPH team will ensure that our clients benefit from the latest applied research and tools to address COVID-19 and other public health threats.”
Five additional public health professionals also joined Maximus to establish the MPH mission and structure:
- Corinna Dan, RN, MPH: Ms. Dan is a Senior Director and public health nurse. She joins Maximus from HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), where she served as a Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of Infectious Disease Policy. This Office is responsible for planning and coordinating federal policy and programs for infectious diseases across federal and non-federal partners.
- Amber Cox, PhD, CCRC, MPH: Dr. Cox is a Director and epidemiologist who joins Maximus from Merck, where she served as a senior research policy associate focusing on public policy for global vaccines. Prior to that, Dr. Cox was on the faculty at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she was the program manager for the Johns Hopkins Vaccine Initiative.
- Karin Hoelzer, DVM, PhD: Dr. Hoelzer is a Director who joins Maximus from the Pew Charitable Trusts, where she served as a senior officer for health programs. Prior to that, Dr. Hoelzer worked at the Food and Drug Administration, where she supported research and coalition building with industry. She is an expert in zoonotic diseases and biomedical research on virus emergence and virus-host adaptation.
- Samuel Washington, MPH, CPHIMS: Mr. Washington is a Director who joins Maximus from Laulima Government Solutions, where he served as senior disease epidemiologist/biodefense regulatory biostatistician and worked at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Disease (USAMRIID) at Fort Detrick. His studies focused on filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg viruses) and other emerging infectious diseases including Zika.
- Jonnell Sanciangco, MSc, GISP: Mr. Sanciangco is a Geographic Information System (GIS) Analyst who joins Maximus from Michigan State University where he is a PhD candidate. He brings over 14 years of experience implementing geospatial methodologies and techniques for applications to public health projects on natural resources, environmental, conservation, and community development.
To learn more about how Maximus helps governments respond to COVID-19, please visit maximus.com/covid-19.
About Maximus
Since 1975, Maximus has operated under its founding mission of Helping Government Serve the People®, enabling citizens worldwide to successfully engage with their governments at all levels and across various health and human services programs. Maximus delivers innovative business process management and technology solutions that contribute to improved outcomes for citizens and higher levels of productivity, accuracy, accountability and efficiency of government-sponsored programs. With more than 30,000 employees worldwide, Maximus is a proud partner to government agencies in the United States, Australia, Canada, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit maximus.com.
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Contacts:
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