About Us

Group of medical professionals reviewing a chest X-ray in a clinical setting.

“Our world is deeply interconnected, and health is a human right that transcends national boundaries.”

Wendy Schmidt, President and Co-Founder, Schmidt Global Health

In public health, threats arise and spread swiftly, leaving potentially devastating consequences in their wake. At a time of shrinking U.S. government funding for global health, spikes of diseases such as Ebola, mpox and measles, and looming potential pandemics, the world needs a new, resilient approach to protecting human health.

Schmidt Global Health works to identify and support responsive, adaptive and nimble public health solutions. By deepening collaboration, enhancing communication and encouraging innovation, we work toward a healthy world for all.

Our Mission

Schmidt Global Health strengthens public health systems by connecting epidemiologists, public health officials and researchers across a global network. These networks improve the identification of threats, coordination of response, use of technology to enhance analysis of health data, and the broad communication of health findings.

Our History

Schmidt Global Health is a nonprofit founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt. We began our work as the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid in 2023. Our model of building networks, sharing research and information, and collaborating to care for people with Long Covid brought together thousands of epidemiologists and clinicians worldwide and improved Long Covid care for millions. As global public health needs grew more pressing, we saw an opportunity to expand our mission, model and organization into Schmidt Global Health in 2026.

Group of six people, including medical staff in white coats and one man in a suit, having a discussion indoors.

Our Team

a woman with blonde hair wearing a blue and white shirt

Wendy Schmidt

President and Co-Founder

Wendy Schmidt is a philanthropist and investor who has spent nearly two decades creating innovative non-profit organizations to work with communities around the world for clean, renewable energy, resilient food systems, healthy oceans and the protection of human rights.

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John Redd

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MD, MPH, FACP
Founding Chief Executive Officer

Dr. John Redd is an internist and medical epidemiologist with more than three decades of experience in public health and clinical medicine. He was tapped by Eric and Wendy Schmidt in 2023 to start the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid.

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Rebecca Bowers

Program Associate

Rebecca Bowers is a Program Associate at Schmidt Global Health. An applied mathematician and former high school teacher, she leverages her statistical modeling background to research public health and environmental issues.

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Victoria Nickle

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MPH
Senior Advisor

Victoria Nickle began her professional career as an epidemiology fellow for the Peace Corps Chief Medical Officer, responsible for surveillance and reporting on disease outbreaks in Peace Corps countries.

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Colin Shepard

, 

MD
Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Colin Shepard is an internal medicine physician and epidemiologist with extensive experience in local, federal and international public health, infectious disease epidemiology and clinical medicine.

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Adam Tewell

Chief Operating Officer

Adam Tewell joined the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid in 2024 after almost a decade at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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Frequently Asked Questions

Who funds Schmidt Global Health?

Schmidt Global Health was created and is funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt, as part of their network of philanthropic organizations and initiatives that work toward a healthy, resilient and secure world for all.

Who are Eric and Wendy Schmidt?

Eric and Wendy Schmidt have been active philanthropists since 2006. Through their philanthropy, the Schmidts are working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all. Eric Schmidt led Google as CEO for a decade and as executive chairman for four years. He also served as executive chairman of Alphabet for three years and as technical advisor. Wendy Schmidt worked in marketing communications in Silicon Valley and since 2006 has led the couple’s philanthropy as president of the Schmidt Family Foundation and Schmidt Ocean Institute. She is also president of Schmidt Global Health.

What is Schmidt Global Health’s budget?

Schmidt Global Health is fully and generously funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to fulfill our mission of strengthening public health systems worldwide.

How can I join Schmidt Global Health’s team?

Schmidt Global Health is not currently hiring.

How can I contact Schmidt Global Health?

Click here to contact Schmidt Global Health.

Woman walking on a sidewalk balancing a basket of oranges on her head near a tree and a fence.
Schmidt Global Health is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient and secure world for all.
a woman with blonde hair wearing a blue and white shirt

Wendy Schmidt

President and Co-Founder

Wendy Schmidt is a philanthropist and investor who has spent nearly two decades creating innovative non-profit organizations to work with communities around the world for clean, renewable energy, resilient food systems, healthy oceans and the protection of human rights. The critical interconnections between human activity, the land we live on and the ocean we depend upon are the central drivers of Wendy’s philanthropic work. Through their philanthropy, Wendy and her husband Eric are working toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.

Wendy is president of the Schmidt Family Foundation, which she and Eric founded in 2006. She leads the foundation’s grant-making and investment programs—the 11th Hour Project, which works to create a just world where all people have access to renewable energy, clean air and water and healthy food, and Schmidt Marine Technology Partners, which supports scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs in developing technologies that restore ocean health.

Wendy also serves as president of Schmidt Ocean Institute, which she and Eric founded in 2009 to advance oceanographic research by offering scientists access to the world’s first year-round philanthropic research vessel in exchange for making their findings publicly available.

John Redd

, 

MD, MPH, FACP

Founding Chief Executive Officer

Dr. John Redd is an internist and medical epidemiologist with more than three decades of experience in public health and clinical medicine. Acknowledging his expertise in emergency response through his work at the IHS, HHS and CDC, Eric and Wendy Schmidt approached John in 2023 to found the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid.

He began his federal career as a clinical internist with the U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) in Shiprock, New Mexico. Following two years of training with the Centers for Disease Control’s Epidemic Intelligence Service, Dr. Redd served in epidemiology and clinical positions with CDC, IHS and HHS Headquarters, where he was chief medical officer for the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. As an officer of the US Public Health Service, he held national epidemiology leadership positions during the H1N1 pandemic and the West African Ebola response, spending over a year deployed in Sierra Leone. During the COVID-19 response, Dr. Redd directed the Federal Healthcare Resilience Task Force and its work of national allocation and distribution of new therapeutics including remdesivir and monoclonal antibodies. He also led field response teams in California and Japan.
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Dr. Redd received the Public Health Service Meritorious Service Medal and the State Department Superior Honor Award for his Ebola service in Sierra Leone. For his service during the COVID-19 response, he received the United States Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal, the service’s highest award.

Dr. Redd received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his medical degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He then completed a residency in internal medicine at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center and earned a Master of Public Health in Epidemiology at Columbia University in New York. He has co-authored over 90 publications.

Rebecca Bowers

Program Associate

Rebecca Bowers joined Schmidt Global Health as a program associate in 2026. With an academic background in mathematics and statistics, Rebecca previously worked as a research assistant at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she used statistical and spatial modeling methods to study environmental and climate-related drivers of neglected tropical diseases in Madagascar. Her earlier research experience includes work at the University of Michigan and Brown University, where she applied statistical and remote sensing methods to study vegetation and environmental change.

Before transitioning to public health, Rebecca spent two years teaching high school mathematics at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, where she also served as a residential advisor. Rebecca has a bachelor’s degree with honors in applied mathematics from Brown University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude.

Victoria Nickle

, 

MPH

Senior Advisor

Victoria Nickle began her professional career as an epidemiology fellow for the Peace Corps Chief Medical Officer, responsible for surveillance and reporting on disease outbreaks in Peace Corps countries.

Prior to joining the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid in 2023, Victoria was the public health analyst to the chief medical officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response (ASPR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Victoria served on the ASPR COVID-19 therapeutics team responsible for the allocation, distribution and administration of life-saving monoclonal antibodies.

Victoria also has extensive international experience—living, volunteering, studying and working in more than seven countries across four continents. Victoria has a bachelor’s degree from The George Washington University and a Master of Public Health from Dartmouth College.

Colin Shepard

, 

MD

Chief Medical Officer

Dr. Colin Shepard is an internal medicine physician and epidemiologist with extensive experience in local, federal and international public health, infectious disease epidemiology and clinical medicine.

Prior to joining the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid in September 2024, Dr. Shepard was a medical officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Office of Readiness and Response. He served as the agency’s liaison to the Office of the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response at the Department of Health and Human Services, where he supported the Covid therapeutics effort.

In addition to his efforts during Covid, Dr. Shepard’s career includes leadership roles at CDC, where he worked on viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis. He also served as a medical officer in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, directing HIV field services and epidemiology at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and monitoring and evaluating HIV response at the International Training and Education Center on HIV-Ethiopia.

He practices internal medicine at a clinic in Washington, D.C., serving uninsured patients.

Dr. Shepard attended medical school at Wake Forest University and completed his residency in internal medicine at the University of Rochester/Strong Memorial Hospital.

Adam Tewell

Chief Operating Officer

Adam Tewell joined the Schmidt Initiative for Long Covid in 2024 after almost a decade at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). At HHS’s Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, he served in multiple roles leading international engagement, including U.S. International Health Regulations National Focal Point program manager, supporting the development of World Health Organization (WHO) Emergency Use Listing (EUL) procedures, and building technical partnerships with his organization’s counterparts worldwide to strengthen global health resilience. During the Covid pandemic he led the allocation and distribution of Covid therapeutics.

Adam also served in HHS’s Office of Global Affairs and in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on international health collaboration in the Asia Pacific region and with multilateral organizations. Outside of government, he has worked as a consultant for the World Bank and for pharmaceutical and medical device organizations.

He has a Master of Public Administration from Cornell University and a bachelor’s degree from Trinity College. He volunteers with nonprofit mental health organizations focusing on enabling individuals with mental health conditions to access housing and employment.