Erika Elvander, former U.S. Health Attache in Beijing: “It behooves us to find the common ground.”

Erika Elvander served her country as a federal career health diplomat for 27 years, including as the U.S. Health Attache in Beijing from the spring 2021 until the end of 2024. Her Asia passion ignited while a student in Hong Kong and traveler to Beijing in the late 1980s. And carried forward for the following decades. As Health Attache in Beijing during COVID, she witnessed China “digging in,” pursuing its 18 months of the fierce controls imposed under “static management.” "Achievements with China are incremental.” She was able to maintain dialogues with Chinese health officials, despite the fraught US-China relationship. Today, the COVID origins quagmire does persist and impede the U.S.-China relationship, six years after the advent of Covid. But “there has to be a path forward,” built on many opportunities in health.