David Bray, PhD, MPH (01C 04PH 08G) has a passion for solving complicated, near impossible, challenges involving humans and technology in high-stakes circumstances. Since a young age, he has used technology to enact positive change in the world. And, throughout his career, David has found ways to combine his passion for problem-solving, his understanding of technology, and his skills in public health and business to transform systems in ways that measurably improve lives. Currently Principal at LeadDoAdapt Ventures, David has served in a variety of leadership roles for numerous startups, councils, non-profits, and federal agencies. The recipient of several distinguished awards (including RSPH’s Matthew Lee Girvin Award!), David has been named one of the top “24 Americans Who Are Changing the World” by Business Insider. Read on the learn more about David’s career path and current work.
Alumni Spotlight: David Bray, PhD, MPH
Name: Dr. David Bray
Department & Class Year: Biostatistics, 2004
Title & Employer: Distinguished Fellow, Stimson Center; Distinguished Fellow, Business Executives for National Security; Principle, LeadDoAdapt Ventures
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Current Town: Washington, D.C.
Tell us about the path that brought you to your current work/position.
During my first year of high school, I created a project for the International Science and Engineering Fair that led to a job with the federal government working on prototype technologies that were years ahead of their time. My project was a series of computer simulations. The first could model plate tectonics movement. We could run it backward all the way to Pangaea to demonstrate that the model was accurate, then run it forward to guess what the world would look like in two or three million years. The next year I modeled oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and later did a simulation of the Chesapeake Bay. After winning state and international awards for the projects, I was offered a job at 15 years old doing computer simulations with the Department of Energy at a high-energy electron beam accelerator facility. I then went on to do work for the Institute for Defense Analyses, developing civilian uses for satellite technology, including space-based forest fire forecasting prototypes at age 17.
As an undergraduate Emory scholar, I traveled to South Africa for a journalism internship, which led to 18 months of volunteering abroad as a health advocate for HIV/AIDS and as a Habitat for Humanity crew lead in more than a dozen countries. By graduation, I had also worked with both Microsoft and Yahoo! on Internet-related solutions and then joined the CDC’s Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Program before beginning my MPH at Rollins part-time.
The morning tragedy struck on September 11, 2001, I sent a note to my Rollins professor apologizing for not being able to make class because I had been mobilized in my role as IT chief for the CDC’s bioterrorism response team. I also responded to the anthrax events that same year, and then West Nile Virus in 2002, followed by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and monkeypox in the United States in 2003.
In 2008, I completed a PhD in improving organizational response to turbulent environments at Emory and began two post-doctoral associateships at Harvard and MIT on related topics. I then joined the Institute for Defense Analyses again and deployed to Afghanistan for 120 days in early 2009 to help "think different" on military and humanitarian efforts in the region. I later became the Executive Director for the bipartisan National Commission for Review of Research and Development Programs of the United States Intelligence Community, leading an interagency team that received the National Intelligence Meritorious Unit Citation.
Since then, I have led the transformation of the Federal Communication Commission’s legacy IT system from more than 207 different systems to award-winning tech, worked with multiple services associated with the U.S. Department of Defense on improving organizational adaptability and counter disinformation online, and led another bipartisan commission focused on the Geopolitical Impacts of New Technologies and Data, resulting in approximately 50% of our recommendations being incorporated into either executive branch policy or legislation within a year. I was recently named a Distinguished Fellow with the Atlantic Council as well as a Distinguished Fellow at the Stimson Center.
What is a typical workday like for you?
There is no typical workday for me. On days when I am in D.C., I could be getting up very early to do a briefing to counterparts in Europe or the Middle East by video, or I could have the luxury of getting up with my wife and 5-year-old son to have breakfast and see him off to school. Then there are either in-person or virtual discussions with folks in D.C. Sometimes I head downtown or to other facilities in the area for face-to-face conversations regarding how different technology and data efforts globally are impacting human societies, geopolitics, and potential futures for our planet.
I usually focus on game-changing technologies that have ripple effects on human communities – the deeper tech trends such as questions about how the rapid commercialization of space will impact questions of national security, economic equity, and how farmers, towns, and the public will ensure these advances benefit them vs. hurt them. Similarly, I work with companies to think and act on digital trends in finance as well as prepare for new cybersecurity risks from increasingly automated ransomware and data-poisoning of machine learning efforts.
Often, I feel like Sherlock Holmes – except that instead of solving fictional mysteries, I am striving to put together pieces of the global puzzle involving humans, tech, and a rapidly changing world. Each day, new pieces are presented: some that fit, some that don’t, and some that are still taking shape.
What types of skills do you think are important to being successful in your job/career? How did Rollins help to prepare you?
One must be a systems-level thinker and consider the bigger picture to include the interaction with and impacts on human societies. My time at Rollins taught me both skills. Similarly, it is important to understand the human element in both the strength – as well as foibles – of any system. I was part of the inaugural year of the Public Health Informatics program at Rollins in which this was emphasized throughout our program – including the recognition that sometimes human activities will surprise us. I would like to give a special thanks to Professor Vicki Hertzberg at Rollins for her championing of this program.
On days you feel the most accomplished at work - what did you do that day?
My wife trained as a neonatal nurse practitioner. I sometimes say she makes a daily difference in people’s lives, whereas my work involves changes that will improve people’s lives 3 to5 years from now and, if successful, most people will never know. I am okay with that because, by focusing on the substantially hard and important problems behind the scenes, I get to meet some great, mission-centric people, too. I feel the most accomplished when I’m working with fellow mission-centric people and we can launch an initiative in a significant direction involving the future of space and company, in data and societies, or even bio and climate change. I know, from the projected outcomes, this will make a big difference in a more positive future for millions, perhaps billions, of people. Most people will never know and that’s okay because the work is what matters most.
What advice do you have for those who are interested in working in a similar position / career path as you?
Find what you are passionate about and link that to mission-centric work that expands your abilities and interests. By mission I mean something that serves and benefits the public. Be comfortable jumping into new areas of knowledge every 3 to4 years, as the world is changing rapidly and we must lead and adapt together.
Tell us about your passion project(s). Are there ways in which you volunteer your time or apply your public health skills as service to the community?
My passions include complicated, near impossible missions involving humans and technology in challenging circumstances. I have been advocating since 2013 on the idea that we need to use both space-based and economic-based indicators to detect future outbreaks early, and not rely on governments to alert the planet. I call this idea an “Immune System for the Planet” because with space-based and economic-based indicators, we can then mobilize rapid characterization, searches for therapeutic interventions, and responses without waiting for official government proclamations. I believe there will be additional outbreaks, both natural as well as human-prompted, in the future.
Would you like to connect with David? Find him on LinkedIn.