David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D. - Assistant Secretary for Health
and Surgeon General
Dr.
David Satcher is the 16th Surgeon General of the United States. Sworn in on February 13,
1998, he is only the second person in history to simultaneously hold the positions of
Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health. In these roles, he serves as the
Secretary’s senior advisor on public health matters and as director of the Office of
Public Health and Science.
Prior to
nominating Dr. Satcher to serve in his present post, President Clinton had appointed him
as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, where he served from 1993 to 1998.
Before joining the Administration, he was President of
Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1982 to 1993.
Dr. Satcher served as professor and Chairman of the
Department of Community Medicine and Family Practice at Morehouse School of Medicine from
1979 to 1982. He is a former faculty member of the UCLA School of Medicine and Public
Health and the King-Drew Medical Center in Los Angeles, where he developed and chaired the
King-Drew Department of Family Medicine. From 1977 to 1979, he served as the Interim Dean
of the Charles R. Drew Postgraduate Medical School, during which time, he negotiated the
agreement with UCLA School of Medicine and the Board of Regents that led to a medical
education program at King-Drew. He also directed the King-Drew Sickle Cell Research Center
for six years.
Dr. Satcher is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical
Scholar and Macy Faculty Fellow. He is the recipient of 18 honorary degrees and numerous
distinguished honors, including top awards from the American Medical Association, the
American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and Ebony
magazine. In 1995, he received the Breslow Award in Public Health and in 1997 the New York
Academy of Medicine Lifetime Achievement Award. Earlier this year, he received the Bennie
Mays Trailblazer Award and the Jimmy and Roslyn Carter Award for Humanitarian
Contributions to the Health of Humankind from the National Foundation for Infectious
Diseases.
Dr. Satcher graduated from Morehouse College in Atlanta in
1963 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western
Reserve University in 1970 with election to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He did
residency/fellowship training at Strong Memorial Hospital, University of Rochester, UCLA,
and King-Drew. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American
College of Preventive Medicine, and the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Satcher would most like to be known as the Surgeon
General who listens to the American people and who responds with effective programs. His
mission is to make public health work for all groups in this Nation. He not only is a
champion of promoting healthy lifestyles, he is also an avid jogger and enjoys tennis,
gardening, and reading.
Born in Anniston, Alabama, on March 2, 1941, Dr. Satcher
and his wife, Nola, reside in Bethesda, Maryland and have four grown children.
Dr.
David Satcher is the 16th Surgeon General of the United States. Sworn in on February 13,
1998, he is only the second person in history to simultaneously hold the positions of
Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health. In these roles, he serves as the
Secretary’s senior advisor on public health matters and as director of the Office of
Public Health and Science. 