About me
Jimmy Kolker is a Global Health Diplomat and retired U.S. Ambassador. Ambassador Kolker served as Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) 2014-17. In this role, he was the Department’s chief health diplomat, representing the United States at World Health Organization and Global Fund meetings.
Ambassador Kolker had a 30-year diplomatic career with the US Department of State where he served as the U.S. Ambassador to Burkina Faso (1999-2002) and to Uganda (2002-2005). From 2005-2007, he was Deputy U. S. Global AIDS Coordinator, leading the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Ambassador Kolker was Deputy Chief of Mission at US embassies in Denmark and Botswana and won awards for political reporting at earlier posts in the UK, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.
From 2007-2011, Ambassador Kolker was Chief of the AIDS Section at UNICEF’s New York headquarters.
Returning to work part-time in 2021 after three retirements, Amb. Kolker is a senior advisor to the US State Department's Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy. He pursues his interest in global health, Africa and diplomacy as a non-resident senior fellow with the CSIS Global Health Policy Center. and serves (without compensation) on 5 NGO boards and 3 advisory councils.
