Before becoming the Director of the CDC China Country Office, William served as Director of CDC’s Global Immunization Division. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing programs supporting the strengthening of immunization and vaccine-preventable disease surveillance systems, as well as disease-specific efforts including polio eradication and measles and rubella elimination. During the COVID-19 pandemic, William was one of CDC’s principal contributors to efforts to support global COVID-19 vaccination systems and delivery.
William began his CDC career as an Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Officer with the National Immunization Program, and he served in three overseas assignments as a CDC Medical Officer on detail to the World Health Organization: with the WHO Ethiopia Country Office, coordinating vaccine-preventable disease surveillance activities; as Team Lead for the Immunization Preventable Diseases Unit in the WHO Country Office for Nepal; and as Group Lead for Accelerated Disease Control for the Expanded Program on Immunization Unit, providing support to the 37 countries and areas of the Western Pacific. William graduated from the Creighton University School of Medicine and received a Master of Science in Public Health from the University of Colorado; he completed residency training in both Family Medicine at the University of Wyoming and General Preventive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Colorado.