Dr. Irwin Redlener

BIOGRAPHY:

Dr. Redlener co-founded the non-profit Ukraine Children’s Action Project in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. UCAP supports more than 25 projects that support children affected by the war.

He is also a Senior Advisor for the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School, at Columbia University, which works to understand and improve the nation’s capacity to prepare for, respond to, and recover from disasters. Dr. Redlener founded NCDP in 2003 and served as its director from 2003-2020. He is a nationally recognized expert on disaster preparedness policies, pandemic influenza, the threat of terrorism in the U.S., the impact and consequences of major natural disasters, and related issues.

Dr. Redlener is the author of The Future of Us: What the Dreams of Children Mean for Twenty-First-Century America, which earned the 2020 Gold Nautilus Book Award. He is also the author of Americans At Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared For Megadisasters and What We Can Do Now. Previously, he served as one of the ten members of the congressionally established National Commission on Children and Disasters.

He also serves as a regular Public Health Analyst for MSNBC programs such as The Deadline White House with Nicolle Wallace, Katy Tur, and more. Dr. Redlener is also a regular contributor of opinion articles for a range of national publications on issues ranging from COVID-19 and public health to children and disaster management.

Dr. Redlener is also President Emeritus and Co-Founder, along with singer-songwriter Paul Simon and Karen Redlener, of the Children’s Health Fund (CHF), a philanthropic initiative created to develop health care programs in some of the nation’s most medically underserved communities. CHF programs are now active in 25 urban and rural communities around the U.S., providing quality comprehensive medical care to more than 100,000 children each year. Dr. Redlener holds an M.D. degree from the University of Miami School of Medicine, an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Hunter College of the City University of New York, and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Hofstra University.