Naveen Rao
Naveen Rao is a physician and global health leader who currently serves as Senior Vice President, Health at the Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller FoundationThe Rockefeller Foundation is a private philanthropic foundation headquartered in New York City. It was chartered by New York State legislation in 1913 with funding from Standard Oil founder John D. Rockefeller, with the mission “to promote the well-being of mankind throughout the world.” In its early years it funded global public health, medical education, and yellow fever vaccine research; in the mid-20th century it supported agricultural programs that came to be known as the “Green Revolution”; and in recent years it has focused its work on energy, health, food, and climate.Open the full entry (he is not the same person as the artificial intelligence entrepreneur of the same name), where he leads work on climate and health. He previously spent 25 years at Merck & Co., where he led Merck for Mothers, a $500 million maternal health initiative.
Contents12 sections
Key facts
Early Years: Practicing Internal Medicine in New York
1993Joins Merck & Co.
In 1993, Rao joined Merck & Co., where he went on to work for 25 years, serving as head of medical affairs for the Asia-Pacific region and as managing director of Merck’s subsidiary in India.[3][2][3]
His final role at Merck was leading Merck for Mothers, the company’s 10-year, $500 million initiative to reduce maternal mortality worldwide, in which he was responsible for applying the company’s scientific and business capabilities to advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.[1][3]
September 2019Launches Precision Public Health at the Rockefeller Foundation
After his career at Merck, Rao joined the Rockefeller Foundation as Senior Vice President, Health. In September 2019, under his leadership, the foundation launched its Precision Public Health initiative, which uses data and analytical tools to give community health workers actionable information and builds on the foundation’s work on universal health coverage.[4][3][4][4]
February 18, 2020Joins the Board of Medic
Since 2020Leads the Foundation’s COVID-19 Response
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rao led the Rockefeller Foundation’s response, advancing equitable access to COVID-19 testing, vaccines, scientific tools, and data, and rapidly extending the precision public health approach to pandemic response in the United States and abroad. He also led the foundation’s Global Vaccination Initiative to increase vaccination rates in low- and middle-income countries.[3][3][1]
2021Leads Pandemic Prevention Initiative
July 14, 2022Supports World Bank Pandemic Fund
On July 14, 2022, the Rockefeller Foundation announced up to $15 million for the World Bank’s newly established Financial Intermediary Fund for pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response, joining the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust as the fund’s founding philanthropic donors. Rao, then Senior Vice President, Health and chair of the board of the Pandemic Prevention Institute, said the keys to preventing and managing pandemics are early detection, rigorous surveillance, and rapid response.[6][6][6][6]
September 2023Turns to Climate and Health
In September 2023, Rao attended the Philanthropy for Better Cities Forum in Hong Kong and gave an interview. He said the foundation’s board had approved a new five-year strategy for its pandemic prevention work focused on the health effects of climate change, including expanding wastewater surveillance and forecasting infectious diseases with outbreak potential that are being intensified by climate change, such as dengue; he described health as “the human face of climate change.”[5][5][5][5][5]
May 2025–September 2026Writes on Global Health Systems and Heat and Health
Beginning in May 2025, Rao published several articles on the foundation’s website, arguing for replacing an outdated donor-led system with a resilient, locally led, investment-based architecture; describing the foundation’s $50 million Build the Shared Future initiative’s support for local solutions in heat and health, and Bangladesh’s rollout of the HeatShield system to help farmers cope with extreme heat; and discussing building health systems’ capacity to withstand shocks.[2][2][2][2][2]
Current Role
Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts
The Rockefeller Foundation: Official website: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/ (opens in a new window).[2]
X: Public account: https://x.com/nraomd (opens in a new window)[2]
LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naveen-rao-aa253b123/ (opens in a new window)[2]
Sources
- Dr. Naveen Rao (opens in a new window)
- Naveen Rao, MD (opens in a new window)
- Naveen Rao (opens in a new window)
- Medic’s Board of Directors Evolves for Our Next Phase (opens in a new window)
- Interview with Naveen Rao, Senior Vice President, Health Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation (opens in a new window)
- The Rockefeller Foundation Commits $15 Million to Accelerate World Bank’s Pandemic Prevention Financing Fund (opens in a new window)
- Leadership (opens in a new window)