Huang Appointed to CFR  

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), the oldest and most admired foreign policy organization in the United States, appointed one of Seton Hall University’s own as one of its newest members in June. Andrew Yanzhong Huang, Ph.D., assistant professor and director of the John C. Whitehead School of Diplomacy and International Relations Center for Global Health Studies, was elected a CFR term member.

The CFR has promoted understanding of foreign policy and America’s role in the world since its founding in 1921. Council members are leaders in virtually every section of American society and represent a broad range of policy perspectives.

 Members between the ages of 30 and 36 are elected to a five-year term membership and represent the very best in government, media, nongovernmental organizations, law, business, finance and academia. This category of membership allows promising young leaders to engage in sustained conversations on international affairs and U.S. foreign policy.

“When I was a graduate student at the University of Chicago, I was taught that I should treat an honor as a by-product,” Huang humbly shares. “I am certainly proud of this great honor and view it as recognition of the work I have done on global health. I am especially proud to bring this honor to Seton Hall and the Whitehead School.”

Reverend Paul A. Holmes, S.T.D., vice president and interim dean, notes, “Such an esteemed honor will serve to highlight the Whitehead School’s efforts and raise awareness of the Center for Global Health Studies as a think tank and research center for policy-oriented global health research.”

A recognized expert in the fields of global health governance, health and international security, and Chinese politics, Huang is a faculty member in the Whitehead School. He came to Seton Hall in September 2003 to help develop the first academic concentration in a U.S. professional school of international affairs that explicitly addresses the foreign policy/security aspects of health issues. He is frequently consulted on global health issues by national media outlets, pharmaceutical companies, and governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

Huang has delivered numerous speeches and briefings at the invitation of think tanks, universities, civic groups and policy organizations. He testified before the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) on SARS and most recently (November 2005), briefed the U.S. Senate Chief of Staff on the Avian Flu. He is well connected in the global health arena, serving as a current member of the Security Experts Council (Gerson Lehrman Group), participant of the China Task Force (Eurasia Group), and a consultant for the Department of Foreign Affairs Canada on pandemic flu. In February 2005, Huang joined a small group of foreign policy experts to advise the Canadian prime minister on the proposed L-20 meeting of key world leaders. He was also a visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

Huang earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Chicago and an M.A. and B.A. in International Studies from Fudan University in Shanghai, China. He is the author of more than 25 publications, including monographs, policy reports, scholarly articles, book chapters, book reviews and op-ed articles. He is currently writing a book titled Global Health and International Security.