Frank Wong

Frank is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has over 14 years of experience working with infectious disease control programs in Ethiopia, Ghana, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Zambia. Frank first developed his interest in public health when he served as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Ghana. His primary role was as a math and science teacher, but after he was approached by a local NGO, he began to develop youth clubs that would train peer educators to increase HIV/AIDS awareness in local communities.

Most recently, Frank worked as a senior technical advisor for the Guinea Worm Eradication Program with The Carter Center in South Sudan and Ethiopia where he led teams of over 60 staff members and close to 1000 volunteers. He supported the Ministries of Health and provided strategic guidance for their eradication efforts and collaborated with the WHO and UNICEF. He managed and built robust surveillance systems in endemic areas for both human and animal infections, conducted case investigations, trained community health workers, established monitoring and evaluation systems, contained and treated cases, distributed filters, promoted safe water use, and implemented vector control in rural villages and refugee camps. Frank has also worked as a clinical trial coordinator at an HIV/AIDS couples voluntary counseling and testing research site in Zambia and evaluated the implementation of the Infectious Disease Surveillance and Response strategy in northern Ghana.

Frank holds an MPH in Epidemiology from Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health and a BS in Biomedical Engineering from Boston University. Upon completion of the DrPH Program, Frank plans to pursue a leadership position with an infectious disease program working in humanitarian settings. His interest is in determining best practices to evaluate and implement such programs. His passion is working closely with communities and building capacity of staff.