Robert Kadlec MD
former Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
Robert P. Kadlec, M.D. is the former HHS Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response(ASPR), and a former U.S. Air Force Colonel (ret.) who has 35 years of public service. Dr. Kadlec has built a distinguished record of service at the highest levels of U.S. biodefense, both in civilian and military roles. From 2017 to 2021 he served as the ASPR at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
From 1993 through 2023, his key national leadership roles in the public sector included Special Assistant to the President & Senior Director for Biodefense Policy in the Homeland Security Council; Director for Biodefense Preparedness & Response, Homeland Security Council; Special Advisor and Senior Assistant roles to the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of Defense for Biodefense Policy; Majority Deputy Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Select Intelligence Committee; Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Bioterrorism & Public Health Preparedness; and most recently Senior Pandemic Policy Minority Advisor to the U.S. Senate Health, Education & Labor Committee. In the private sector he has undertaken ongoing advisory roles to the Secretary of Defense as well as the National Academy of Sciences and the Intelligence Community.
Kadlec was a Distinguished Graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy. He earned his M.D. and a masters in tropical medicine & hygiene at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He received his masters in national security studies from Georgetown University, and he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Among his many accomplishments, he led the bipartisan U.S. Senate investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic. He developed critical aspects of U.S. policy on Homeland Security & WMD threats, and he co-authored Homeland Security Presidential Directive 10, outlining the U.S. National Biodefense Policy during President George W. Bush Administration. Following the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the subsequent FBI investigation into anthrax bioterrorism, he assisted in DoD efforts to counter potential WMD threats.
Kadlec led HHS’ response organization during the COVID-19 pandemic and executed a budget of more than $256 billion. As ASPR, he played a central role creating and executing Operation Warp Speed which developed COVID-19 vaccines and therapeutics in record time.