MELINDA MOORE Obituary

Melinda Moore
Beloved wife and mother, passed away at her home in Darnestown on January 17, 2019 at the age of 68. She had bravely battled ovarian cancer since 2017. She is survived by her devoted husband of 33 years, Andrico Nungovitch, and three children, Petro, Stefano, and Athina, who surrounded her with love until the very end. Born in southern California, Melinda graduated from Pacific Palisades High School in '68, then attended Smith College for two years before being accepted to Harvard Medical School, where she earned her MD and MPH. During her extraordinary career in global health-20 years at CDC, 5 at HHS, and 14 at RAND-she attained the rank of Captain in the USPHS, worked in over 45 countries, and touched countless lives. She will be remembered for her adventurous spirit, moral and intellectual leadership, and eternal optimism. Melinda met her future husband in 1984 in Kinshasa, where, together, they reigned as undisputed champions of the mixed-doubles tennis court. They married in '85 and raised their children ('86, '88, '90) in Kinshasa, Atlanta, and Maryland. Besides her husband and children, Melinda is survived by her brother and sister, Rick and Melanie, as well as many other family members and friends. A memorial service to honor her life will be held in the spring. Tributes can be made to GCSproject.org.

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Published by The Washington Post on Jan. 27, 2019.

Memories and Condolences
for MELINDA MOORE

12 Entries

Steve Jones

January 22, 2021

I was so happy to see this reminder / memory of dear departed Melinda Moore.

Thanks from a long-time colleague and friend of Melinda - Steve Jones

Ann Kimball

January 21, 2021

The work Melinda led in SE Asia was transformative. I think of her often and miss her smile. Rest in Peace.

Richard J Jackson

March 4, 2019

I worked with Melinda at CDC in the late 90s. She was truly a person of great intelligence and boundless energy, and kind honesty. We traveled to WHO in Geneva together and she knew people, places and programs remarkably. I am deeply saddened by her loss.

Rick Goodman

March 4, 2019

To Melinda's family:

Sympathies to you on the occasion of Melinda's passing. In the many years since you all left Atlanta, while I rarely saw Melinda, there were many times when she came to the fore during discussions within and outside the workplace of CDC. Among our EIS cohort that arrived in July 1978, Melinda was exceptional in so many special ways. Thanks to her for her genuine friendships and for all she did to promote the human condition.

Rick Goodman

Susan J. Shaw

March 4, 2019

I worked with Melinda for years at CDC. A wonderful, intelligent and professional public health advocate. So sorry to hear of her passing. My regards to her family.

Steve Jones

March 3, 2019

Dear Andrico, Petro, Stefano, and Athina

I worked with Melinda at the CDC and visited you in Kinshasa and Atlanta. Her death was a great loss for me and for the broad public health goals she helped advance.

May Melinda rest in peace

Steve Jones

Ann Kimball

March 3, 2019

A Passing

My friend and colleague Dr. Melinda Moore has just passed on to eternity. I am sad, but more than just sad, I want to memorialize this amazing woman who gave her life to service in Global Health. Melinda was absolutely central to a successful effort to incorporate considerations of pandemics and epidemics within the policy portfolio of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the 1990s.

Make no mistake, our politics were different. She was a Republican and I am an avowed Democrat. The space we call Global Health transcends those petty distinctions and should always do so. Melinda was a consummate professional who had a gift for collaboration, humor and relationships with others. She was with a force of nature.

After our common time in EIS (late 1970s) we met again during the Clinton Administration. The IOM (which is now the NAM) had published a groundbreaking report from their forum on Emerging Infections. The group was led by Joshua Lederberg, and they outlined the factors of emergence of new epidemics and pandemics. This new framework was revolutionary in Medicine. It articulated how our human activities were actually facilitating and enhancing our human community risk of pandemics.It was followed up by a broad Interagency study which exhorted the United States to use every forum to advance concerns about pandemic detection and preparedness for Emerging Infections.

Melinda and I met up again when I led a team from the UW to crash a meeting in Vancouver, BC of the International Science and Technology working group of APEC in 1993.Working from CDC, Melinda had initiated discussions at a Beijing meeting the year before. We found we were in British Columbia with APEC under a common flag: the imperative for economic development to consider pandemic risk and emerging infections for populations as a major ongoing concern for such development.

The order of the day was lofty---to convince a cooperation of 21 countries to incorporate this most basic riskemerging infections--- into their portfolio. Another of our team was Gerald Hane from the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) under Clinton. Essentially we coordinated our work over the following decade like dribbling a basketball up the court to the basket. We passed the ball depending on who was in position to make the advance to our goal.academic studies of economic impacts, USG concerns about trade embargoes and options, high level policy circulars. Whatever it took, we did it for seven years. Finally in 2000 the Leaders statement of APEC was crafted to include emerging infections. A temporary task force health was established. It took years for APEC to establish a permanent working group on health, but that is now in place in no small way due to the efforts of Melinda and our collaboration.

Melinda Moore had genius in defining our collective obstacles and opportunities. As she moved to Rand Corporation she orchestrated table tops which exposed the fragmented and ineffectual response which was extant in most countries. She was always professional, reliable and scholarly. She was also humorous, empathetic and just plain fun to work with.

Dr. Melinda Moore will be missed in many corners of the world. She contributed greatly to the overall mission of Global Health. She has many dear friends and collaborators sprinkled across continents. We will all miss her.

January 31, 2019

Dr. Moore Nov. 2018 Salzburg

January 31, 2019

Peter Cooper

January 29, 2019

Dear Melinda, you're truly an angel in the universe

Gail Fisher

January 27, 2019

The world has lost a beautiful and great mind and a warm and caring woman who gave her all. Melinda was a bright star. She is deeply missed.

January 27, 2019

We are saddened to learn of Dr.Moore's passing. Dr. Moore's
talents were immense.
Please know that we share your sorrow in this great loss.
Fondly. Mary Lou Resko

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