Lawrence Kerr

Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Kerr leads PhRMA’s engagement on global health issues, developing and implementing strategies, alliance development, diplomatic engagement platforms, and communications related to PhRMA’s priorities in multilateral organizations, such as United Nations agencies, the World Health Organization (WHO), international institutions like the World Bank and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as multilateral forums like the G7 and G20. Previous to his role at PhRMA, Dr. Kerr was the Director, Pandemic and Emerging Threats at the Office Global Affairs (US HSS) where he oversaw a policy portfolio including the Global Health Security Agenda 2024 policy development and implementation, pandemic influenza preparedness, World Health Organization R&D Blueprint efforts on emerging threats, countering antimicrobial resistance, and security policy issues (biosafety and biosecurity, biothreat prevention, and dual-use research of concern). Dr. Kerr has also served as the Director for Medical Preparedness Policy at the White House National Security Council Staff as the principal staff member responsible for coordinating policy regarding public health and medical resilience for biological events, including his role on the Ebola Task Force. He previously served as the Director for Biodefense Policy with the White House Homeland Security Council in the Executive Office of the President (EOP). He served as Assistant Director for Homeland Security for the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and as Director of Bioterrorism, Research, and Development for the Office of Homeland Security in the EOP.

Dr. Kerr joined the Life Sciences division of OSTP in January 2001 where he came from his position as Chief of Transplantation, Transplantation and Immunology Branch at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Prior to his work at the NIH, Dr. Kerr worked in science and health care policy on the health subunit of the Senate Judiciary Committee during the 106th Congress as a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. As an Assistant Professor in Microbiology and Immunology at Vanderbilt School of Medicine in Nashville TN from 1993-2002, Dr. Kerr ran a basic science laboratory devoted to the study of the transcriptional regulation of gene products involved in HIV replication and breast cancer development. He is the author of more than 50 peer-reviewed articles, reviews, and book chapters.

Dr. Kerr completed his Ph.D. in Cell Biology from Vanderbilt University in 1990 and undertook his post-doctoral work at the Salk Institute in San Diego, CA. Dr. Kerr is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Georgetown University School of Medicine in Washington, DC.