Demetre Daskalakis

Though Daskalakis’ main passion is HIV prevention, his credentials as an infectious disease expert and ambassador to the LGBTQIA+ community mean he frequently gets pulled into other public health emergencies, including last year’s U.S. outbreak of mpox, which spreads through skin-to-skin contact and primarily affected men who have sex with men. At the White House, Daskalakis focused first on increasing the supply of mpox vaccine, then on encouraging vulnerable populations to seek it out. As new cases tailed off in December, White House officials cited successful community outreach work by Daskalakis and his boss, Robert Fenton.