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A year after the Trump White House announced it would coordinate the coronavirus response, Deborah Birx has found new work – and a lot of it. The George W. Bush Institute said Friday that Birx will join as a senior fellow focusing on health inequalities, Politco reported. She has been a public health official for four decades and will also be working on other global health initiatives. She worked with the Bush Institute to reduce cervical cancer among women living with HIV in Africa when she was in the federal government. In a statement, according to Hill, Birx said she was “excited to be working with the amazing people and hit programs at the Bush Institute.” Birx retired when Biden’s administration took office. She was not asked to stay on when her colleague, Anthony Fauci, was.
According to a regulatory application, Birx also joined the board of directors of a Bay Area investment firm. Innoviva receives royalties from some lucrative GlaxoSmithKline medicines. Birx did not comment on the position. And a Texas company said Birx was also appointed as chief scientific and medical adviser by Reuters. ActivePure Technology makes products that they say reduce the appearance of the coronavirus on surfaces and in the air. After serving as president of President Obama as global AIDS coordinator, Birx became a national figure when Trump installed her on the White House task force. Trump soured her when he campaigned for the country’s economy to reopen quickly during the pandemic, and her assessment was grim. Democrats and others criticized Birx for failing to suppress his proposals to suppress the virus, such as the disinfectants. (Read more Deborah Birx stories.)