Thoai D. Ngo 

Thoai D. Ngo is the chair and professor of the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. 
 

A man walks past the liquid oxygen storage tank installed at Bir Hospital by the United States Agency for International Development, in Kathmandu, Nepal, on February 9, 2025.
Governance

USAID Lost: Stories From Colombia, Kenya, and Nepal

by Thoai D. Ngo 

Public health and development professionals share insights from three nations hit hard by U.S. cuts to foreign aid

People wait in line at the Care Harbor/LA free clinic in Los Angeles, California, on September 27, 2012.
Poverty

How the MAHA Commission Can Improve U.S. Life Expectancy

by Thoai D. Ngo 

To help Americans live healthier, policymakers should address what researchers call the causes of causes for ill health

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris watches as President Joe Biden signs executive orders on his racial equity agenda at the White House in Washington, DC on January 26, 2021.
Governance

Tackling the U.S. Coronavirus Data Catastrophe

by Thoai D. Ngo , Charlotte Brasseux, Saleh Abbas, Mingqi Song

Recommendations for the Biden-Harris COVID-19 response national strategy

A slum dweller woman carries drinking water in Dhaka, Bangladesh, September 15, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammad Ponir Hossain
Urbanization

Bridging Health Gaps With Inclusive Urbanization

by Jessie Pinchoff, Thoai D. Ngo 

To tackle health disparities, the global health community must promote inclusive urbanization

They are informally honored—but are they officially counted? Activists stand at sunrise to memorialize victims of the coronavirus, near the Washington Monument in Washington, DC on August 27, 2020. The photo shows the monument in the thin morning lite with a silhouette line of people standing in the foreground. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Governance

Two Hundred Thousand and (Not) Counting

by Thoai D. Ngo , Charlotte Brasseux, Mingqi Song

The U.S. failure to collect social and community data hampers efforts to control COVID-19 and to address health inequity

Data reporting exists but is "woefully inadequate and regrettably incomplete," like these mostly empty COVID-19 testing kits at the CDC serology testing site in Washington, DC, on June 16, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
Poverty

One Weak Link and the Whole Thing Falls Apart

by Thoai D. Ngo , Charlotte Brasseux

A more structured, uniform, and comprehensive U.S. approach is needed to collect, report, and analyze coronavirus data

A woman wears a mask during a Black Lives Matter protest in Centenary Square in Birmingham, England following the death of George Floyd who died in police custody in Minneapolis, on June 4, 2020. The picture shows a woman in a striking mask adorned with the words Floyd Life "Mattered." REUTERS/Jason Cairnduff
Poverty

We Need a Pro-Poor and Pro-Black Response to COVID-19

by Thoai D. Ngo 

Concentrate testing in poor Black and Latinx neighborhoods now and plan for an equitable distribution of future vaccines