Indian American Infectious Disease Specialist Dr. Celine Gounder’s Husband Andy Wahl Dies in Qatar While Covering World Cup
- The daughter of an Indian father and French mother, Celine Grounder met Wahl when they were students at Princeton University.
Infectious disease specialist Dr. Celine Gounder is in “complete shock” after the sudden death of her husband, Grant Wahl, a longtime sports journalist and soccer analyst in Qatar on Dec. 9. “I’m in complete shock,” the daughter of an Indian father and French mother tweeted last night. “I am so thankful for the support of my husband @GrantWahl’s soccer family & of so many friends who’ve reached out tonight.”Her statement was attached to a retweet of U.S. Soccer’s post on social media
Wahl, 48, who was covering his eighth World Cup, collapsed at Lusail Stadium in Qatar during the quarter-final between Argentina and the Netherlands on Dec. 9. He was a correspondent for CBS Sports and wrote a popular Substack column, and also hosted a podcast.
Members of the U.S. media seated next to Wahl told various news outlets that paramedics responded as soon as he fell and performed CPR. After many minutes, they took him away on a stretcher while using an automatic chest compressor to continue applying CPR. He was pronounced dead at the hospital. ”
A member of President Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, Gounder is currently a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation and editor-at-large for public health at Kaiser Health News.
Earlier this week, Wahl wrote on his website that he had visited a clinic in Qatar, as reported by ESPN. On his podcast on Dec. 8, a day before his death, he said he had “a case of bronchitis and visited the medical clinic again,” the report said.
Wahl and Gounder met while studying at Princeton University, MEAWW said in a profile on Gounder. They were married in 2012 in Seattle, Washington. Wahl graduated from Princeton in 1996 with a degree in politics, and Gounder graduated in 1997 with a degree in molecular biology. The couple lived in New York with their two dogs, Coco and Zizou, “who was named after former France World cup winner, Zinedine Zidane,” according to the British tabloid newspaper The Sun.
A member of President Biden’s Covid-19 advisory board, Gounder is currently a senior fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation and editor-at-large for public health at Kaiser Health News, according to her LinkedIn profile. She is also a clinical associate professor of medicine at New York University School of Medicine, and an attending physician at Bellevue Hospital Center and a CBS News medical news contributor.
In addition, she is the host and producer of “American Diagnosis,” a podcast on health and social justice, and “Epidemic,” a podcast about the COVID-19 coronavirus. She is also the CEO, president, and founder of Just Human Production, a non-profit multimedia organization.
After graduating from Princeton, Gounder went on to do her Master’s from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in epidemiology. And received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 2004 from the University of Washington School of Medicine, after which she began her residency at the Massachusetts General Hospital. She then joined Johns Hopkins University as Research Associate in Infectious Diseases and worked there for more than four years. She became the Assistant Commissioner of Health and Director of the Bureau of Tuberculosis Control in 2012.
Extremely sorry to hear of the passing away of Grant Wahl. My favorite sport is soccer and was very good at it. We have lost icon who did a great job in his profession. My deepest sympathies to his wife and all his Family members. My are are with them for comfort and peace from the Almighty. God Bless.