Philip Welkhoff

Philip Welkhoff is director for Malaria, joining in 2018 to lead the foundation’s strategy. Prior to joining the foundation, he served as a pro bono external advisor to various programs, including Agriculture Development and Water, Sanitation & Hygiene.

Previously, he served as director of research at the Institute for Disease Modeling (IDM). There, he helped develop computer simulations of malaria, polio, and other disease transmission dynamics to assist public health professionals and other scientists in planning the eradication of different diseases. Philip received a Special Achievement Award by a Hertz Fellow in 2009 for his work on malaria modeling.

He earned dual undergraduate degrees in mathematics and aerospace engineering at The University of Texas, Austin and holds a PhD in applied and computational mathematics from Princeton University. At Princeton, his work focused on biophysically-inspired models of neural circuits for perceptual decision making. He has served on the Board of the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation and now serves as a senior interviewer.