Shirley Tilghman to co-chair Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission

Written by
Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Molecular Biology Staff
April 29, 2020

Gov. Phil Murphy announced the appointment of a 21-member commission to advise the administration on the timing and preparation for New Jersey’s recovery from the COVID-19 shutdown. The Governor’s Restart and Recovery Commission, he said, includes a vast wealth of experience in health care, business, finance, academics, and economics and will be chaired by Professor of Molecular Biology and former University President Shirley Tilghman and Ken Frazier, CEO of Merck and Co., Inc. 

“With this task force we are bringing together some of the sharpest minds our state and nation have to offer,” Murphy said.  “As I have said from the start, public health creates economic health and these individuals will help us decide when and how to restart the economy to best benefit both.”

“It will be their task to balance multiple competing needs to ensure we arrive at equitable decisions that work for every community in our state,” the governor said on Monday.

“I will ask them to help us, and our businesses, leverage any and all available federal funds and programs to support our recovery.”

Other members include incoming Rutgers University President Jonathan Holloway, former Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke; labor union AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka; former acting director for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Richard Besser; and Tony Coscia, Windels Marx partner and board chair of Amtrak and Suez North America.