Susan Blumenthal, M.D.

Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. (ret.) served as U.S. Assistant Surgeon General and Senior Global Health Advisor in the US Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Blumenthal is currently Director of the Health and Medicine Program at the Center for the Study of the Presidency and Congress, Senior Policy and Medical Advisor at amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research and Chair of the Global Health Program at the Meridian International Center where her work focuses on a broad range of public health and science issues facing the nation and world. She also serves as a Clinical Professor at Georgetown University and Tufts University Schools of Medicine. With over two decades of Federal service at the highest levels of government, Dr. Blumenthal’s expertise and leadership on a variety of health issues, including the national public health response to pandemic flu, bioterrorism, global health issues, women’s health and mental illness, have made her a trusted source of knowledge for the public and for the many Administration officials and government leaders that she has advised throughout her career.

Admiral Blumenthal was appointed and served as the country’s very first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women=E 2s Health from 1993-1997. In this position, she was an advisor to the White House on women’s health issues and coordinated a $4 billion budget on women’s health across the agencies of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Her many accomplishments during her tenure in this position include establishing the National Centers of Excellence on Women’s Health at academic centers throughout the country and the National Women’s Health Information Center, a single point of access on the web and through a tollfree telephone service to cutting edge resources. Dr. Blumenthal is also credited with initiating “From Missiles to Mammograms,” an innovative collaboration involving the CIA, NASA and DOD, which transferred imaging technology used for military and space purposes to improve the early detection of breast cancer. Additionally, she served as Co-Chair of the National Action Plan for Breast Cancer, a Presidential initiative. For the 12 years prior to this appointment, Blumenthal served as a Branch Chief of major national research programs at the National Institutes of Health on behavioral medicine, disease prevention and mental illness.

Dr. Blumenthal has served as Senior Advisor on Public Health to the White House Domestic Policy Council and as the top medical advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. She has also served as Dis tinguished Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University, and as Visiting Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at George Washington University Medical Center, where she was also Associate Vice President for Health Affairs. Dr. Blumenthal has been a Fellow at Harvard University’s School of Government and the Bundy Visiting Professor at the Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Blumenthal has published numerous articles in scientific journals and national publications, including serving as the health columnist for US News and World Report and Elle magazines. Her many media appearances include serving as an expert in the news and as host and medical director of an award-winning television series on health. She served as the Medical Director of a Discovery Channel/American Film Institute Global Health Series and Chief Medical Advisor to a PBS Health Initiative. Admiral Blumenthal has received numerous awards including honorary doctorates and has been decorated with the highest medals of the US Public Health Service for her pioneering leadership and landmark contributions to improving health. She was recently named 2009 Health Leader of the Year by the Commissioned Officers Association. The New York Times, the Medical Herald and The National Library of Medicine have named Blumenthal as one of the most important and influential women in medicine.