Asia Society Policy Institute Welcomes New Expert on Global Public Health and the Cure4Cancer Movement

Greg Simon headshot

NEW YORK; November 1, 2023 – The Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Mr. Greg Simon as its Distinguished Fellow for Global Public Health with its Center for China Analysis.

Mr. Simon has held senior positions in both chambers of Congress and in two Presidential administrations. He served as the President of the Biden Cancer Initiative: The Cancer Moonshot, with the mission to bring renewed leadership to the fight against cancer, facilitate new collaborations, and drive progress across the cancer journey involving multiple stakeholders. He came to that position after serving as the Executive Director of the White House Cancer Moonshot Task Force established by President Barack Obama and led by then-Vice President Biden. In his role, Mr. Simon was dedicated to fostering collaboration among researchers, healthcare professionals, and policymakers, with the aim of expediting advancements in cancer treatment and prevention.

Mr. Simon returned to the White House after serving as the Chief Domestic Policy Advisor to Vice President Al Gore between 1993 and 1997. He held the position of Senior Vice President for Worldwide Policy and Patient Engagement at Pfizer, as well as the co-founder of FasterCures and the Melanoma Research Alliance. He was the CEO of Poliwogg, a financial services company creating capital market opportunities in healthcare and life sciences.

Mr. Simon has developed a reputation as a strategist, a public speaker and writer, and as an expert analyst of emerging trends in healthcare, information technology, innovative drug research and development, and patient advocacy. He is a cancer survivor who completed successful treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

“We are thrilled to have Mr. Greg Simon join the Asia Society family. His pivotal role as the former president of the Biden Cancer Initiative make him an invaluable addition to the Cure4Cancer team,” said Debra Eisenman, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of the Asia Society.

Jing Qian, Co-Founder and Managing Director of ASPI's Center for China Analysis, said: “Mr. Simon is joining us at a moment of great significance, uniting our collective efforts to call upon all stakeholders to work together to advance the global fight against cancer, our common enemy of humanity. His leadership is transforming the Cancer Moonshot movement into a resounding ‘Human Moonshot’ to address the broader global challenge for all people. As a cancer survivor, a patient advocate, a political strategist, a policy leader, and a healthcare innovator, Greg personally represents our '5P' approach of realizing our shared vision to 'end cancer as we know it.' His arrival represents an exciting new chapter of our Cure4Cancer movement, and we all look forward very much to working closely with him to keep moving forward and upward.”

Mr. Simon himself said: "I am tremendously honored to become a Distinguished Fellow at Cure4Cancer, the groundbreaking initiative of the Asia Society. In the last 20 years, I have helped start three foundations to help patients with cancer and other terminal diseases, including being the Executive Director of the White House Cancer Moonshot in 2016 under then-Vice President Joe Biden.  As someone with cancer myself, I have benefited from medical progress that keeps my leukemia in remission. I want to bring similar successes to patients around the world. Only by open, honest engagement with patients and their doctors, researchers and caregivers around the world can we hope to help people live with cancers that are a death sentence today. Through U.S.-China harmonization in clinical trials, we can open a new front in our fight against this awful disease and bring hope to millions, even billions, of our fellow human beings."

Mr. Simon recently co-authored the the Asia Society Policy Institute's first major global public health report, Advancing Global Health Equity: Enhancing Clinical Trials Access and Cooperation to Save Millions of Lives from Cancer. Read key takeaways in the press release here. 

Members of the press interested in connecting with Mr. Simon should contact pr@asiasociety.org.

With a problem-solving mandate, the Asia Society Policy Institute tackles major policy challenges now confronting the Asia-Pacific in security and diplomacy; trade, investment, and innovation; climate and clean energy; and society, technology, and public health.