Jews in the D

20 | JULY 23 • 2020 

H

is career was taking off 
like a rocket. So why, 
with a string of degrees 
from top universities and a 
high-paying job with a promi-
nent consulting firm, would he 
take a sharp turn for a job with 
Michigan’
s state government?
For Jonathan Warsh it was 
about wanting to return to the 
community where he was born 
and raised, and a desire to work 
for the public good. In February 
2019, he started his current job 
as chief of staff for the Michigan 
Department of Health and 
Human Services (HHS). 
Among other responsibilities, 
he oversees the state’
s response 
to the COVID-19 crisis.

Warsh, 30, grew up in 
Bloomfield Hills, the son of 
attorney Rick Warsh and his 
wife, Debbie, a psychotherapist. 
He graduated from Hillel Day 
School and Birmingham Groves 
High School, and celebrated his 
bar mitzvah at Congregation 
Beth Ahm, where his family is 
still active.
With a summa cum laude 
bachelor’
s degree from Harvard 
in 2011, he was awarded a pres-
tigious Marshall Scholarship 
to study in Britain, earning a 
master’
s in health care poli-
cy from the London School 
of Economics and a Ph.D. 
in bioethics from Oxford 
University. Following a short 

stint on the faculty of Harvard’
s 
Business School, he moved to 
Washington, D.C., and a posi-
tion at McKinsey & Company, a 
global management consulting 
firm.
He enjoyed his work but 
not the Washington political 
environment. After Gretchen 
Whitmer’
s 2018 election, he was 
asked to consider a job with the 
state’
s Department of Health 
and Human Services.
“I had it in the back of my 
mind to move back to Michigan 
sometime, but I didn’
t expect it 
would be so soon,
” Warsh said. 
As one of the leaders of his 
department, Warsh helped 
develop strategies for deal-
ing with maternal and infant 
health, public assistance and 
Medicaid. A few weeks after 
he presented his final plan, the 
COVID-19 pandemic hit the 
state. “Everything was com-
pletely upended,
” he said.
His boss, HHS Director 
Robert Gordon, said Warsh has 
played a key role in the state’
s 
COVID-19 response. “His lis-
tening, analysis and leadership 
skills are unusual for someone 
of any age. We’
re fortunate to 
have him on the team.
”
Warsh is responsible for the 
state’
s contact tracing program. 
Everyone who tests positive for 
COVID-19 is asked to name 
people with whom they had 
recent physical interaction. 
A trained volunteer calls the 
contacts and urges them to be 
tested and to quarantine for two 
weeks if they are positive.
“It’
s very challenging and 
we’
re trying to scale up rapidly,
” 
Warsh said. One problem is 
that many don’
t accept the calls, 
which come from (866) 806-
3447, MI COVID HELP
. 
Contract tracers do not share 
the name of the person who 

tested positive. Neither do they 
request personal identification 
such as a Social Security 
number, driver’
s license number 
or credit card number. Calls 
that request such information 
are probably scams.
“When we call you, please 
pick up and talk to us, and 
give us the names of your close 
contacts,
” Warsh said. “If we 
don’
t do this well, it will be 
virtually impossible to contain 
the virus.
“
As the weather has gotten 
better and people are coming 
out of quarantine, it’
s natural to 
expect more close interactions 
that are facilitating the spread 
of the disease,
” he said. “What 
we really need is for people to 
continue to practice safe social 
distancing, wear masks when 
indoors (and outdoors when 
social distancing isn’
t possible) 
and limit social interactions as 
much as possible. This is really 
Public Health 101.
”
Huntington Woods attorney 
Jeff Appel, a family friend who 
has known Warsh since he 
was born, is one of his biggest 
fans. “He probably won’
t tell 
you that while at McKinsey he 
helped redesign the Medicare 
system for the state of Ohio,
” 
Appel said. “He probably won’
t 
tell you that he routinely works 
12-hour days.
”
Warsh, who is single, lives 
in Ann Arbor, where he is on 
the board of the Ann Arbor 
Orthodox Minyan. 
He might be interested in a 
federal government position 
someday, he said, but working 
for the state makes him more 
nimble and closer to the people 
he wants to serve. He has no 
interest in political office. “I 
don’
t enjoy the limelight,
” he 
said. “I enjoy working behind 
the scenes.
” 

Contact Tracer

Young Jewish professional heads up
state’
s efforts to contain COVID-19.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jonathan 
Warsh

