Dr. Deborah Birx served in public health in the US government for over forty years, working for multiple presidential administrations in that time. A former member of the US Army, Dr. Birx worked at Walter Reed Medical Center when early cases of HIV/AIDS began to emerge, and she spent much of her career researching HIV and working around public health HIV issues. She's held positions at the National Institute of Health, Walter Reed, and the Centers of Disease Control, and prior to joining the White House, she was nominated by President Obama to serve as Ambassador-at-Large and US Global AIDS Coordinator as part of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. She served as White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator until March 2021. She lives in Washington, DC.
Earnest and exhaustive. — New York Times Book Review The best account we have so far of how Trump’s team botched the pandemic response so badly. . . . Significant . . . the book that should be an indispensable resource for future historians. . . . Deborah Birx offers more detail and nuance than anyone else. — The Atlantic There’s an underappreciated quiet heroism in the steadfast bureaucrat who day after day, for months on end, insists on seeking and spreading the truth. With Silent Invasion, Birx shows us she is a person of extraordinary tenacity who, armed with sound data and a deep sense of duty, fought corrupt forces to save lives as best she knew how. — Washington Post In-depth...In Silent Invasion, Birx reveals just how untenable her position was and, more importantly, what changes need to happen in order to win against the COVID-19 pandemic."" — People