Former U.S. surgeon general and Indiana state health commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams is coming to the Kelley School of Business as the new Poling Chair of Business and Government.
Adams served as surgeon general under President Trump. He also served on the White House Coronavirus Taskforce in 2020. He was one of the first public health officials who warned of COVID-19’s potentially disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.
Appointed by former governor Mike Pence in 2014, he also led the Indiana State Department of Health’s responses to Ebola, Zika, and HIV. Adams testified in support of an Indiana bill that made it easier for needle exchange programs to operate and led an effort to increase naloxone access in county health departments.
Adams is also a practicing anesthesiologist at the Sidney & Lois Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis and an assistant professor of clinical anesthesia at the IU School of Medicine.
Read more: Former Surgeon General: All the ingredients exist for another HIV outbreak in Scott Co.
The Kelley School said that Poling Chairs are charged with “stimulating discussion in areas of leadership, the critical interactions between private business and government in matters of public policy, enterprise competitiveness, and economic growth.”
Chairs meet for several weeks a year with students and faculty, and Adams has talks scheduled with the Kelley School’s Fry Scholars and Hutton Honors College.
Previous recipients include astronaut Dr. Mae C. Jemison, Indian parliamentarian Deepender Hooda, film director Kristin Hahn and former Kraft CEO Bob Eckert, among others.
