Department of Defense Honors Gronvall

Gigi Gronvall, PhD '00, received a Medal for Exceptional Public Service from the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Gronvall was recognized for exceptional public service as a Special Government Employee appointed to the Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, from October 2010 to December 2019.

During her tenure with the Department of Defense, Gronvall provide high-level expertise on issues related to nuclear deterrence, bioterrorism, public health policy, and global and national security. Gronvall is a senior scholar with the Center for Health Security.

"It was a great honor to serve on the Threat Reduction Advisory Committee, which was disbanded during the Trump Administration," says Gronvall. "The people at the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and DoD have to make decisions in real-time about unconventional threats with poor or conflicting data, and so it is a privilege to help them work through what is known and what potential options for action the United States may take."

The Department of Environmental Health and Engineering is a cross-divisional department spanning the Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Whiting School of Engineering. This hybrid department is uniquely designed to lead pioneering research and prepare the next generation of scholars to solve critical and complex issues at the interface of public health and engineering.