Dr. Mario Ramirez is an actively practicing physician with an extensive background working in government, clinical settings and private companies with a robust understanding of emergency medicine, the public policy and clinical medicine interface, disaster response and biosecurity. With significant corporate and government experience, hands-on clinical knowledge and extensive contacts in the Biden-Harris administration, Mario is an invaluable asset to health system, pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients seeking the perspective of a medical expert as they navigate legal and policy issues, scientific findings and business decisions related to health care and the life sciences. Additionally, Mario has considerable experience advising clients in private equity, health security and public health fields and working in and with the federal government, medical centers, startups, education, and the medical and scientific communities.

Mario currently serves as the managing director of Opportunity Labs, a management consulting firm working across the education, health care and housing sectors to catalyze opportunity development for disadvantaged Americans. He is also a FutureEd senior fellow at Georgetown University, an assistant clinical professor in emergency medicine at Vanderbilt University and the chief medical officer for Affirm Health, Inc., a growing organization that delivers software solutions and partners with medical professionals to effectively and efficiently monitor subscription drug use and combat prescription drug abuse.  

During the Obama administration, Mario concurrently served as a White House Fellow for Health and Human Services (HHS), assigned directly to Secretary Sylvia Burwell, and acting director of the HHS Office of Global Affairs Office of Pandemic and Emerging Threats. In these roles, he advised on international issues of emerging concern, including Ebola, MERS, pandemic influenza, dual-use research of concern, synthetic biology, biosecurity and antimicrobial resistance. As a leader under Secretary Burwell, Mario served as an HHS interface to the White House on issues of international public health safety, coordinating efforts with the World Health Organization (WHO) and other multilateral bodies, and served on the HHS Ebola response unit.

Mario previously served as a chief medical development officer at Briovation, an innovation catalyst and seed stage investment fund seeking to transform the health care marketplace; a chief operating officer for Health Security Partners, an organization that seeks to globally improve biosecurity and biodefense where national security and public health intersect; a major in the United States Air Force as an emergency physician and flight surgeon; a medical consultant for the Terrorism Research Center, Inc.; a research fellow at the Monterey Institute of International Studies Center for Nonproliferation Studies, focusing on the chemical and biological weapons nonproliferation program; and a research associate at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Mario has significant clinical experience from his work at INOVA Fairfax Hospital, Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center, Centennial Medical Center, StoneCrest Medical Center and Sibley Memorial Hospital.

A notable figure on emergency medicine and COVID-19, Mario is a frequent television commentator and author in mainstream media, medical journals and trade press. His teaching experiences include roles of increasing responsibility at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and John Hopkins University School of Medicine. He has also taught cadets at the Nashville Police Academy and first responders with the Nashville Fire Department.