Jimmy Kolker serves part-time as Senior Advisor to the Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the U.S. Department of State.  His unique expertise as a global health diplomat includes experience in the U.S. government and multilateral leadership positions and board memberships in health-related and Africa-related NGOs.  

Ambassador Kolker had a 30-year diplomatic career with the U.S. Department of State, serving as the U.S. Ambassador to Uganda (2002-2005) and Burkina Faso (1999-2002). 

His last fulltime post, 2011-2017 was Assistant Secretary for Global Affairs at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).  Amb Kolker represented the United States at World Health Organization governing bodies; was directly involved in the U.S. response to Ebola and Zika; and helped develop the Global Health Security Agenda.

From 2005-2007, he was Deputy Global AIDS Coordinator in the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator, leading the implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).  Amb. Kolker was Deputy Chief of Mission at U.S. embassies in Denmark and Botswana and won awards for political reporting at earlier posts in the UK, Sweden, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique.

After retiring from State, in 2007, Amb. Kolker was Chief of the AIDS Section and Associate Director of Programs at UNICEF’s New York headquarters.

His board and advisory board memberships include Last Mile Health, Augusta Victoria Hospital (East Jerusalem), American Diplomacy Publishers, Building Tomorrow, MANA Nutrition, the G4 Surgery Alliance, Global HOPE (pediatric cancer) and the Firelight Foundation.  

The Cambridge Univserity Press textbook Diplomatic Tradecraft, published March 2024, includes his chapter Health and Science Diplomacy.  

In 2019, Amb. Kolker received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater Carleton College.  He  holds a Master’s in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School  and a B.A. magna cum laude from Carleton. He was a Thomas J. Watson Foundation Fellow (1970-1971). He speaks French, Swedish, and Portuguese.