White House monkeypox response coordinator speaks exclusively with Blade
White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator Demetre Daskalakis joined the Los Angeles Blade for an exclusive Zoom interview Wednesday to discuss the latest challenges facing public health officials fighting the monkeypox virus (MPV) – from countering misinformation and educating the public to transitioning to intradermal vaccination dosing regimens.
Daskalakis previously served as medical director for the New York-headquartered Mount Sinai Health System and then was made deputy commissioner for the Division of Disease Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
In late 2020, as the U.S. saw thousands of new covid fatalities each day, Daskalakis joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.
A gay man who is a leading expert on LGBTQ health, during his tenure as a municipal health official in New York, Daskalakis’s work leading HIV and STD health programs was credited with helping to bring down the rate of new HIV infections among the city’s gay and bisexual men by 35 percent.
