Mark R. Dybul
Encyclopedia
Global AIDS Coordinator (U.S.)
The Global AIDS Coordinator at the U.S. State Department is the official responsible for overseeing U.S.-sponsored humanitarian aid programs to combat the AIDS epidemic in Africa and Asia. The office was previously held by Ambassador Mark R. Dybul, , until June 23, 2009 when Ambassador Eric Goosby...
, leading the implementation of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief
The President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief was a commitment of $15 billion over five years from United States President George W. Bush to fight the global HIV/AIDS pandemic...
(PEPFAR) during the presidency of George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
.
Biography
Dybul received his A.B.Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
(1985) and M.D.
Doctor of Medicine
Doctor of Medicine is a doctoral degree for physicians. The degree is granted by medical schools...
(1992) from Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
and completed his residency in internal medicine
Internal medicine
Internal medicine is the medical specialty dealing with the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of adult diseases. Physicians specializing in internal medicine are called internists. They are especially skilled in the management of patients who have undifferentiated or multi-system disease processes...
at the University of Chicago Hospitals
University of Chicago Hospitals
The University of Chicago Medical Center forms a major center for medical care and research in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois...
(1995) and a fellowship in infectious diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is one of the 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health , an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services...
(1998). Before his political career began, Dybul worked with AIDS patients in San Francisco. He is also a registered Independent.
Dybul is openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
.
Dybul is recognized as a leader in making PEPFAR a reality, and under his tenure PEPFAR budgets quadrupled. The impact of PEPFAR on the select countries receiving funding is often cited as one of the Bush Administration's most lasting successes.
Dybul was initially asked to stay on into the Barack Obama
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama previously served as a United States Senator from Illinois, from January 2005 until he resigned following his victory in the 2008 presidential election.Born in...
administration by the transition team. However, one day after the inauguration, amid criticism by senior advisors to the President and a number of reproductive rights and AIDS activism groups over Dybul's involvement in steering funds to abstinence-only programs during the Bush Administration, Dybul received a call asking him to submit his resignation.
The dismissal invited criticism from all parts of the American political spectrum
Political spectrum
A political spectrum is a way of modeling different political positions by placing them upon one or more geometric axes symbolizing independent political dimensions....
. Michael Gerson
Michael Gerson
Michael John Gerson is an op-ed columnist for The Washington Post, a Policy Fellow with the ONE Campaign, and a former senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He served as President George W...
, one of three main speechwriters for and a senior political adviser to George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
from 2001 to 2006, called it "petty" and "malicious" in his Washington Post column. The liberal editorial board of The San Francisco Chronicle labeled the move "unexpected, unceremonious and undeserved" and accused Obama of making Dybul a scapegoat
Scapegoat
Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any party for unmerited negative treatment or blame. Scapegoating may be conducted by individuals against individuals , individuals against groups , groups against individuals , and groups against groups Scapegoating is the practice of singling out any...
of a policy that Dybul did not support. International Herald Tribune
International Herald Tribune
The International Herald Tribune is a widely read English language international newspaper. It combines the resources of its own correspondents with those of The New York Times and is printed at 38 sites throughout the world, for sale in more than 160 countries and territories...
stated that "Score it 1 for partisanship, 0 for public health". Supporters of the move hope that Dybul's replacement will change priorities in the U.S. AIDS relief programs.
Currently, Dybul is a distinguished scholar and serves as co-director at Georgetown's O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. He is also a member of Accordia Global Health Foundation's Board of Directors.