Dr. Robert Bernstein is a Medical Epidemiologist, Public Health and Preventive Medicine thought leader, and seasoned team leader with more than 30 years of experience leading health services research (HSR), improving public health policy and practices, and providing training for USAID and U.S. Government agencies, U.N. agencies, and developing country ministries of health in Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Vietnam, and numerous countries in Africa.
He has excellent management, leadership, decision-making, and interpersonal skills, with successful team leader or senior advisor experience on 13 health projects for USAID, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the Asian Development Bank. More than eight years of direct practice in HIV/AIDS-related epidemiology and policy with USAID globally.
Specifically he has extensive health program monitoring and evaluation (M&E) experience throughout Asia and Africa. Well versed in the technical and diplomatic issues of advocating for including new vaccines in national immunization programs through consultancies in Indonesia, Singapore, and China, he also has extensive experience in M&E applied to the design of start-up activities on the PEPFAR HIV/AIDS Prevention, Care, and Treatment project in Vietnam.
Dr Robert has successful experience advising high-level government officials, including the Ministers of Health in Indonesia, Singapore and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), and President Jimmy Carter in the USA. Highly capable of mentoring developing country health officials on HSR methodologies and on utilization of HSR results, he served as CDC Resident Advisor for the Indonesia and KSA Field Epidemiology Training Programs and led teams of medical experts building capacity within their Ministries of Health, assessing and improving public health services and investigating complicated public health issues such as HIV transmission in hemodialysis centers.
He is sensitive to cultural differences, with >25 years of experience living and working in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. As an Adjunct Associate Professor of Global Health at Emory University since 1987, he has published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in well respected scholarly journals. Topics include epidemiology education and training, HSR methodology, and other health-related issues.
Currently, Dr. Robert Bernstein is The Executive Health Medical Director, Florida State Department of Health and, Adjunct Associate Professor, Dept. of Global Health, Emory/Rollins School of Public Health.