A Shot in the Arm Podcast with Ben Plumley

Ben is an internationally recognized global health strategist and advocate, with over 25 years’ experience in the UN, private and non-profit sectors. Now based in California, Ben’s unique strength is in mobilizing stakeholders to create impactful public private partnerships in global health.

Ben is Head of Engagement, Partnerships and Impact at Ikana Health Action Lab, and a Senior Fellow at the Global Health Reporting Center.

Ben is an internationally respected podcaster, and host of A Shot In The Arm Podcast, a cutting-edge video podcast about innovation and equity in global health – particularly in the age of pandemics. Guests have included Dr Anthony Fauci, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and Professor Heidi Larson. Ben’s other podcasts include Business Fights AIDS, a behind the scenes look at his collaboration with the late Ambassador Richard Holbrooke to mobilize the business response to AIDS, and Vax Up – a video podcast designed for vaccine implementers on how social technologies can be used to promote vaccine confidence.

Between 2010 and 2018, he was the CEO of the Global Health Technical Assistance and Policy Think Tank, the Pangaea Global AIDS Foundation. As well as non-profits, he has extensive public and private sector experience, having been Vice President of Access at Johnson & Johnson, Chief of Staff to Dr Peter Piot, the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS, and a public consultation policy adviser at the UK Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority.

Ben is Chair of the MTV Staying Alive Foundation, producer of the award-winning MTV Shuga terrestrial and digital soap operas, promoting young people’s sexual and reproductive health across Southern Africa and India.

He is also the incoming Chair of the San Francisco Community Health Center, a national center of excellence which provides ground-breaking comprehensive health and wellness services for hard-to-reach homeless, trans and drug-using communities in San Francisco’s tenderloin district. Ben was educated at Churchill College, Cambridge University in the United Kingdom.

Ben's other interests include the literature (and particularly the essays) of Aldous Huxley (perhaps the greatest essayist of the 20th century), as well as the genre of speculative fiction - particularly Margaret Atwood (definitely the best English-language writer of our era). And, to the alarm of many of his friends, he is passionate about British, German and Japanese electronic pop music, particularly the Pet Shop Boys, Rosenstolz and Kirinji.