Appendix G
Committee Biosketches
David H. Wegman, M.D., M.Sc. (Chair), was named University of Massachusetts emeritus professor of work environment in 2009 after serving a 5-year term as dean of the School of Health and Environment. Prior to serving as dean, he was founding chair of the Department of Work Environment, which was established in 1987. He also serves as adjunct professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Previously he served as director of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, and on the faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Wegman has focused his research on epidemiologic studies of occupational respiratory disease, musculoskeletal disorders, and cancer and has published more than 200 articles in the scientific literature. He has also written on public health and policy issues concerning hazard and health surveillance, methods of exposure assessment for epidemiologic studies, the development of alternatives to regulation, and the use of participatory methods to study occupational health risks. He is co-editor with Dr. Barry Levy of one of the standard textbooks in the field of occupational health, Occupational Health: Recognition and Prevention of Work-Related Disease. His recent work focused on health and safety risks among construction workers involved in the building of the Third Harbor Tunnel and the underground Central Artery in Boston, and on the relationship between work risks and age among both child laborers and older adults. Dr. Wegman served as treasurer of the International Epidemiological Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the International Commission on Occupational Health and as chair of its Scientific Committee on Epidemiology in Occupational Health. He has been
an active participant in a number of National Academies expert panels and was appointed as member of the Standing Committee on Human-Systems Integration (now the Board on Human Systems Integration) in 2010 and the Committee on Aerospace Medicine and the Medicine of Extreme Environments in 2011. He recently completed service as Chair of the National Research Council (NRC) Committees on Human Factors in Home Health Care and on the Review of the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research Portfolio and Outcomes. He previously has served as chair of the NRC-Institute of Medicine (IOM) Committee on Review of NIOSH Research Programs, the NRC-IOM Committees on Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers, and the Health and Safety Consequences of Child Labor. He has been a member of the NRC Committee on Occupational Health on Worker Health and Safety on Offshore Wind Farms, NRC Committee on Mine Safety: Essential Components of Self-Escape, NRC-IOM Committee to Review the NIOSH Respiratory Disease Program, the Committee on Musculoskeletal Disorders and Work, the IOM Committees to Review the Health Consequences of Service During the Persian Gulf War and to Review Gender Differences in Susceptibility to Environmental Factors. Dr. Wegman’s government service has included serving as chair of the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration’s Advisory Committee on the Elimination of Pneumoconiosis Among Coal Mine Workers, as a member of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Standards Advisory Committee on Metal Working Fluids, and as a consultant to the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) on the agency’s extramural research program and on research concerning aging and work. He has also served on the National Toxicology Program’s Board of Scientific Counselors, the NIOSH Board of Scientific Counselors, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Scientific Advisory Board. He serves as chair of the Epidemiology Review Board for DuPont Corporation and is past chair of the Occupational Health Advisory Board for the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corporation. Dr. Wegman is an associate editor for the American Journal of Industrial Medicine and a member of the editorial boards of the Epidemiology Monitor, the International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Environmental Health (online), and New Solutions. He received his B.A. from Swarthmore College and his M.D. and M.Sc. from Harvard University and is board certified in preventive medicine (occupational medicine).
Edward Bernacki, M.D., M.P.H., is currently executive director of Health, Safety & Environment and director of the Division of Occupational Medicine at Johns Hopkins University. In this capacity, he manages more than 50 occupational health and employee clinics for the university and for various corporations across the country manned by Hopkins nurse practitioners
and physician assistants. The department contracts with more than 500 companies in the mid-Atlantic region, covering nearly 300,000 employees. Dr. Bernacki is responsible for managing the health and safety programs that protect Johns Hopkins’ 39,000 employees, and he and his staff have managed to cut the university’s workers’ compensation costs by more than $4 million annually through innovative programs in ergonomics-based injury prevention and better management of patient care. Dr. Bernacki’s areas of expertise include occupational and environmental health and safety, repetitive stress disorders, health systems management, health information technology, and workers’ compensation. He previously served as president of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (ACOEM).
Leslie Boden, Ph.D., is professor of environmental health, Boston University School of Public Health. Dr. Boden is an economist, and much of his research has focused on describing the economic and human consequences of injuries and illnesses and identifying ways of minimizing those consequences. Over the past several years, Dr. Boden has published studies measuring the income lost by injured workers and the adequacy of workers’ compensation benefits. With Boston University School of Public Health colleague Lee Strunin, he has also published several studies of the postinjury experiences of injured workers and their families. More recently, Dr. Boden has developed new estimates of underreporting of workplace injuries. He has also written on occupational safety and health regulation, medical screening, gender inequality, and the legal and public health use of scientific information. From 1988 to 1997, Dr. Boden served on the Mine Health Research Advisory Committee of the Department of Health and Human Services, which he chaired for 6 years. In 2001-2002, he was a member of the Worker Advocacy Advisory Group, which advised the Department of Energy on occupational disease compensation. He was a member of the Institute of Medicine (IOM)/National Research Council (NRC) Committee to Review NIOSH Research Programs: Traumatic Injury. He is currently a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Institute of Work and Health and is also an advisor for the National Economic and Social Rights Initiative.
Tom Cairns, D.B.A., M.S., is a principal and chief career coach for the Cairns Blaner Group, to which he returned in June 2009 after serving a presidential appointment as chief human capital officer (CHCO) for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. As CHCO for DHS, Dr. Cairns was responsible for human resource management and training for more than 200,000 employees. He also is currently an associate professor of business and
management at Azusa Pacific University. Prior to founding the Cairns Blaner Group in 2007, he was senior vice president, human resources for NBC and NBC Universal, a division of General Electric Company. Dr. Cairns spent 30 years at General Electric managing local, regional, and national human resource organizations. He has demonstrated success in leading human resource organizations in the private and public sectors, supporting executives in a high-performance culture. He is acknowledged for creating and staffing complex organizations that consistently deliver business results. His expertise includes talent management, career coaching, executive development, organization design and staffing, employee and labor relations, and mergers and acquisitions. He is currently a member of the President’s Advisory Council at Nova Southeastern University, and previously served on the Board of Trustees for The Kings University, as accreditation commissioner for the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools, on the Board of Directors for Workplace Hollywood and Teen Challenge, and as a local and national member of the Society for Human Resource Management and the American Society for Training and Development. He was also a member of the United States Air Force. Dr. Cairns holds a doctorate in business administration and an M.S. in human resource management from Nova Southeastern University and a B.S. in commerce from Rider University. He has received additional training from General Electric’s Management Development Institute in Six Sigma, change management, facilitation, advanced human resources management, positive management leadership; master certification in high-performance systems from Belgard, Fisher, Raynor, Inc.; and certification in predictive index from Praendix, Inc. Dr. Cairns has authored, co-authored, and presented numerous articles on human resource management and leadership and serves on the editorial advisory board for Employment Relations Today.
Richard H. Carmona, M.D., M.P.H., FACS, born to a poor Hispanic family in New York City, experienced homelessness, hunger, and health disparities during his youth. These experiences sensitized him to the relationships among culture, health, education, and economic status and shaped his future. After dropping out of high school, Dr. Carmona enlisted in the U.S. Army, earned his general equivalency diploma, and went on to become a combat-decorated Special Forces Vietnam veteran. He then attended Bronx Community College of the City University of New York through an open enrollment program for veterans, receiving an associate of arts degree. He subsequently received B.S. and M.D. degrees from the University of California, San Francisco. At the University of California Medical School, Dr. Carmona was awarded the prestigious gold-headed cane as top graduate. Trained in general and vascular surgery, Dr. Carmona also completed a National Institutes of Health–sponsored fellowship in trauma, burns,
and critical care. He was then recruited jointly by the Tucson (Arizona) Medical Center and the University of Arizona to start and direct Arizona’s first regional trauma care system. He went on to become chairman of the State of Arizona Southern Regional Emergency Medical System and a professor of surgery, public health, and family and community medicine at the University of Arizona. He is also a fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Public health came as a second career after Dr. Carmona returned to graduate school while working in order to complete a master’s degree in public health at the University of Arizona. His interest in public health stemmed from the realization that most of his patients’ illnesses and injuries were completely preventable. He also has served for more than 25 years with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department in Tucson, including as deputy sheriff, detective, SWAT team leader, and department surgeon. He is one of the most highly decorated police officers in Arizona, and his numerous awards include the National Top Cop Award, the National SWAT Officer of the Year, and the National Tactical EMS Award. Dr. Carmona is a nationally recognized SWAT expert and has published extensively on SWAT training and tactics, forensics, and tactical emergency medical support. Dr. Carmona also has served as a medical director of police and fire departments and is a fully qualified peace officer with expertise in special operations and emergency preparedness, including weapons of mass destruction. In 2002 he was nominated by the President and unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate to become the 17th Surgeon General of the United States. Dr. Carmona was selected because of his extensive experience in public health, clinical sciences, health care management, and preparedness and his commitment to prevention as an effective means to improve public health and reduce health care costs while improving the quality and quantity of life. As Surgeon General, he focused on prevention, preparedness, health disparities, health literacy, and global health to include health diplomacy. He also issued many landmark Surgeon General communications during his tenure, including the definitive Surgeon General’s Report on the dangers of secondhand smoke. Dr. Carmona has published extensively and received numerous awards, decorations, and local and national recognitions for his achievements. A strong supporter of community service, he has served on community and public and private national boards and provided leadership to many diverse organizations. In 2006, Dr. Carmona successfully completed the statutory 4-year term of the U.S. Surgeon General and was named to the position of vice chairman for Canyon Ranch, the country’s leading health and wellness company for more than 30 years. He also serves as chief executive officer of the company’s Health division and oversees health strategy and policy for all Canyon Ranch businesses. He is president of the nonprofit Canyon Ranch Institute, the first distinguished professor of public health at the University of Arizona’s Zuckerman College of Public
Health, a professor of surgery and pharmacy at the University of Arizona, and the dean’s distinguished professor of health promotion and entrepreneurship at the Ohio State University College of Nursing.
Cherryl Christensen, D.O., M.S., FACOEM, is currently corporate medical director at Procter & Gamble (P&G) Company. In her role at P&G, she has overall responsibility for on-site health programs for 130,000 employees in more than 80 countries, including the global medical network, the global employee assistance program, travel medicine, and executive health, delivering services to P&G employees in 190 clinics around the world. She is also on the board of directors of the Global Health Benefits Institute and the Cigna Medical Advisors Council. She serves on the faculty at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine as an adjunct clinical professor of occupational medicine. Dr. Christensen came to P&G after completing her residency in occupational and environmental medicine and serving on the staff at University of Cincinnati Hospitals in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine for 7 years. Previously, she worked at the U.S. Navy Environmental Health Center, Occupational Medicine Division, in Norfolk, Virginia, where she developed worldwide occupational health standards, reviewed complex disability claims, inspected occupational medicine clinics, lectured extensively on professional topics, performed health hazard evaluations, and represented Navy occupational medicine on selected issues to outside organizations. Dr. Christensen began her work in occupational medicine as medical officer at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Portsmouth, Virginia, where she was responsible for providing primary, emergency, and occupational medical care (fitness-for-duty, disability, and surveillance evaluations) for 12,000 employees. She received her doctorate in osteopathic medicine and surgery from the College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery in Des Moines, Iowa, and an M.S. in environmental health from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine. She is board certified in occupational and environmental medicine.
Don E. Detmer, M.D., M.A., is professor emeritus and professor of medical education in the Department of Public Health Sciences of the School of Medicine at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville. He is also visiting professor at the Centre for Health Informatics and Multi-professional Education at University College London. Currently, he serves as a member of the National Quality Forum’s Common Formats Expert Panel, as well as other advisory boards. Dr. Detmer most recently served as medical director for advocacy and health policy for the American College of Surgeons. Previously, he was president and chief executive officer of the American Medical Informatics Association from 2004 to 2009. Dr. Detmer earned an M.D. from the University of Kansas and an M.A. from Cambridge University.
He trained as a surgical resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Duke University Medical Center. He served as inaugural health policy fellow at the IOM, where he fostered the development of the Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellows Program. Dr. Detmer was elected to IOM membership in 1991 and chaired the landmark 1991 IOM report on computer-based patient records. Also in 1991, he began an 11-year term on the IOM’s Board on Health Care Services, including 8 years as chair. He served on the IOM committees that issued the seminal reports To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System (2000) and Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health Care System for the 21st Century (2001). He chaired the IOM Membership Committee from 2009 to 2011 and received the IOM Walsh McDermott Award in 2009. Most recently, he served on the IOM Committee on the Future Information Architectures, Processes, and Strategies for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the IOM Committee on Patient Safety and Health Information Technology.
Ellen P. Embrey is president and chief executive officer of Stratitia, Inc., a strategy and management consulting firm specializing in supporting clients that serve the health care, national security, and information technology sectors. She also is a counselor in The Cohen Group, a firm that provides global business consulting services and advice on tactical and strategic opportunities in virtually every market. Ms. Embrey has extensive executive and program leadership experience in the executive branch of the federal government. In her last federal role, she served as assistant secretary of defense (health affairs) and director, TRICARE Management Activity during the presidential transition period in 2009-2010. In that capacity, she led and managed the Military Health System, a $47 billion/year defense health program employing more than 200,000 health professionals serving more than 9.6 million service members, retirees, and their families in more than 70 hospitals and 500 clinics and laboratories around the globe. As deputy assistant secretary of defense (force health protection and readiness), Ms. Embrey orchestrated significant improvements in Department of Defense (DoD) policies and programs during 2002-2009, affecting deployment and combat casualty medicine, health promotion and preventive medicine, medical readiness, and public health emergency preparedness and response. As DoD’s “line of action” lead for addressing traumatic brain injury (TBI) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), she led collaborative efforts to identify gaps and prioritize investments in TBI and PTSD research, align clinical best practices of DoD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and establish new U.S. International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-9 codes for TBI diagnoses and treatment based on DoD/VA experience. At the secretary of defense’s request, Ms. Embrey led a landmark study of sexual assault in the military, making recommendations that led to widespread
reforms in this area across the Department. Throughout 2001, during the presidential transition period, she served as assistant secretary of defense for reserve affairs, shaping policies affecting the readiness and use of the National Guard and Reserves in both federal and state status. From 2000 to 2001, she served as chief of staff of that office, and from 1998 to 2001 as deputy assistant secretary of defense for military assistance to civil authorities, developing policies that shaped the role of the National Guard and Reserve components in supporting homeland security, disaster preparedness, and national disaster response capabilities, including advising the President on such matters in the days and weeks following September 11, 2001. Over her distinguished 35-year federal career, Ms. Embrey received many awards, the highest of which include two Secretary of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Awards (2001 and 2004) and two Presidential Meritorious Executive Rank Awards (2006 and 2009).
William Fabbri, M.D., FACEP, is medical director of the Emergency Medical Support Program, Office of Medical Services, at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). His duties include those of principal advisor to the FBI for medical support of contingency operations. The Emergency Medical Support Program provides emergency, primary care, and preventive medicine services during complex or prolonged investigative and crisis response missions of the FBI, both domestically and overseas. The program employs FBI special agents cross-trained as flight and critical care registered nurses, physician assistants, and advanced capability paramedics, supervised by federal physicians. This capability has been used in major investigations including the bombing of the USS Cole; the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; and the anthrax investigations in Florida, New Jersey, New York, and Washington, DC, as well as in support of large-scale law enforcement operations in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina and in Puerto Rico during operation Guardshack. Dr. Fabbri is a graduate of New York Medical College, subsequently training in general surgery at Boston City Hospital and in emergency medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital. He is a board-certified specialist in emergency medicine and has served in both field- and hospital-based capacities in industrial and transportation accidents, natural disasters, and law enforcement critical incidents. Previous positions held include attending physician at an academic trauma center, community hospital assistant director of emergency services, regional emergency medical system consult physician, state emergency medical services regional chairperson, urban search and rescue team physician, and supervising Air National Guard flight surgeon.
Janie Gittleman, Ph.D., M.R.P., is currently chief of Occupational Safety, Health & Environmental Compliance (FAC-3A) Mission Services, Office of
Facilities and Services, Defense Intelligence Agency. Previously, Dr. Gittleman was associate director for safety and health research at the Center to Preserve Workers’ Rights (CPWR)-Center for Construction Research and Training (the National Construction Center funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health [NIOSH]). There she oversaw and conducted intra- and extramural research on construction safety and health for a decade. Prior to her work at CPWR, she served as a NIOSH-based public health officer and senior scientist for the Office of the Secretary of Health during the September 11, 2001, and anthrax events. There she developed and reviewed state-based proposals for bioterrorism resources and developed benchmarks for evaluating the use of funds. While at NIOSH, she also served as branch chief of the Hearing Loss Prevention and Surveillance Branches at the Pittsburgh Research Laboratory. Early in her career, Dr. Gittleman conducted health hazard evaluations nationwide and participated in the Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) program of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As an EIS officer, she oversaw and managed the Adult Blood Lead Epidemiology and Surveillance Program, tracking adult lead exposures both in the United States and abroad. Her most recent funded research and publications have been focused on safety climate, performance metrics, and fall prevention. Dr. Gittleman serves on numerous national committees and workgroups, including the Science Board of the American Public Health Association, the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Data Advisory Group, and the National Occupational Research Agenda (NORA) Construction Sector Council. She is a reviewer for journals in the field of occupational safety and health research and chairs numerous CDC grant review committees. She received her master of regional planning degree in health planning and a Ph.D. in occupational epidemiology from Cornell University.
William “Bill” L. Lang, M.D., M.P.H., is a distinguished graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He completed his M.D. degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and a family practice residency at Madigan Army Medical Center, Fort Lewis, Washington, becoming a board-certified family physician. After residency, Dr. Lang joined the faculty of the military’s largest family practice training program at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, receiving academic appointments at both the University of North Carolina and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He also had collateral assignments supporting the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and the Joint Special Operations Command. While assigned at Fort Bragg, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Public Health, receiving a master of health care administration degree. Dr. Lang’s next assignment was as the physician member of “Task Force Mercury,” chartered by the Army Surgeon General
to develop the Army’s approach to managing medical information in the 21st century. The resulting document became the basis for information management policy and doctrine for Army medicine over the next decade. Dr. Lang then served for 3 years as Army White House physician, and subsequently as physician consultant for medical information management on the staff of the Army surgeon general, with simultaneous duty as director of clinical information requirements for DoD. During this time, he was co-lead in developing the clinical and operational requirements and funding strategy for the military’s global electronic health record. In late 2000, Dr. Lang returned to the White House Medical Unit as deputy director and deputy physician to the President, becoming director of the Medical Unit in 2006. In these positions, he served as chief operating officer, responsible for day-to-day worldwide operations, including personnel and budget, for both classified and unclassified programs. Here his responsibilities included coordinating medical preparations for White House travel around the world; emergency/urgent health care services for White House visitors and the 5,000 White House staff members; occupational health services for the White House staff; and medical aspects of planning/response for mass casualty, terrorism, pandemic, and weapons of mass destruction events, supporting White House operations. Dr. Lang retired from the Army in 2008 as a colonel after 29 years of service. His final assignment, in which he continued in civilian service after retirement, was as associate chief medical officer for component services, Department of Homeland Security. In this position, he was the lead consultant to the senior leadership of the Department for public health and medical issues affecting their operations and staff. Additionally, he was responsible for departmental-level support of the medical aspects of occupational safety and health programs, force health protection (including chemical/biological/radiological preparedness), and operational medical support. Since leaving government service, Dr. Lang has provided independent consulting services and served as a senior director for a major international health information service; he currently provides direct care support and medical advisory services for a private corporation in New York.
Michael A. Silverstein, M.D., M.P.H., recently retired from his post as assistant director for industrial safety and health in the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries after directing the state’s occupational safety and health program for 10 years. Dr. Silverstein is currently a clinical professor of environmental and occupational health at the University of Washington, School of Public Health. He previously held positions in the Washington State Department of Health as state health officer and epidemiologist and spent 2 years in Washington, DC, as director of policy for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). For 15 years
before this, he was assistant director for occupational health and safety with the United Automobile Workers Union in Detroit. Dr. Silverstein has practiced family and occupational medicine in Michigan and California. He holds degrees from Harvard University; Stanford Medical School; and the University of Michigan, School of Public Health. He is board certified as a specialist in occupational medicine. He has been an active member of several professional associations, including the American Public Health Association, where he served as chairman of the occupational safety and health section, and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, where he was a member of the Ethics Committee. He spent 2 years as chair of the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH). Dr. Silverstein has authored numerous scientific research and policy articles, including recent publications on the regulatory process, the aging workforce, the future of OSHA, and asbestos cancer risk assessment. He has served on several IOM committees, including the Committee on Aerospace Medicine and Medicine of Extreme Environments, the Committee on NASA’s Research on Human Health Risks, the Committee to Review NASA’s Space Flight Standards, the Committee to Review the NIOSH Hearing Loss Research program, the Committee on the Health and Safety Needs of Older Workers, and the Committee on Health and Safety Implications of Child Labor, as well as the Transportation Research Board’s Committee on Offshore Windfarm Worker Safety.
David N. Sundwall, M.D., is a primary care physician and professor of public health (clinical) at the University of Utah, School of Medicine. Dr. Sundwall served as executive director of the Utah Department of Health from January 2005 to January 2011, during which time he was also chair of the Utah Health Information Technology (HIT) Governance Consortium. Previously, he was president and subsequently senior medical and scientific officer of the American Clinical Laboratory Association. Before that he was vice president and medical director of American Healthcare Systems. His experience in the federal government includes serving as administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; assistant surgeon general in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service; and director of health and human resources staff for the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. He currently serves as vice chair of the federal Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Payment and Access Commission. Dr. Sundwall is a member of the IOM Committee on Health Threats Resilience, and previously served on the Planning Committee on Workforce Resiliency Programs and the Committee on Integrating Primary Care and Public Health. He is a member of the Utah Medical Association, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Association of State and Territorial
Health Officials (ASTHO) Alumni Society, the Utah Public Health Association, and the Reserve Officers Association. Dr. Sundwall earned his B.A. at the University of Utah and his M.D. at the University of Utah, College of Medicine, and completed further medical training at the Harvard Family Medicine Residency Program.
RADM (ret.) W. Craig Vanderwagen, M.D., is a senior partner with Martin, Blanck & Associates, a health care consulting firm that provides critical assistance to private-sector clients focused on federal health care delivery systems and services and public health programs. He is also a founder and director of East West Protection, LLC, a company dedicated to developing and delivering integrated solutions to protect communities and sovereign countries from the threat of weapons of mass destruction and natural pandemics. From August 2006 to July 2009, Dr. Vanderwagen was the founding assistant secretary for preparedness and response (ASPR), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, he was responsible for the leadership and development of a new organization whose mission was to prepare the nation for response to and recovery from public health and other health disasters, whether natural or manmade. Dr. Vanderwagen had a distinguished 28-year career in public service as a commissioned officer in the U.S. Public Health Service. Before becoming assistant secretary, he deployed multiple times to disaster environments, including serving in Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. He also served as lead public health official and senior officer aboard the USNS Mercy in Indonesia after the tsunami of 2005, director of primary care and public health for the Ministry of Health in Iraq in 2004, consultant to the Pan American Health Organization in Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in 1999, and medical director for Project Provide Refuge (joint Department of Defense-HHS Kosovar refugee assistance) in 1999. Dr. Vanderwagen’s deployments were in addition to his duties in the Public Health Service, where he retired as the agency’s chief medical officer after 25 years of service. During his career with Indian Health Service, he provided leadership in the uses of electronic health records and implementation of and the use of best practices to combat chronic diseases and was an early supporter of and the agency’s lead negotiator for a majority of the early Self Governance Compacts. Dr. Vanderwagen serves on multiple boards of directors addressing infectious diseases, disaster medicine, and public health preparedness. He is currently chair of the International Centre for Infectious Diseases and is an advisor to the International Federation of Biosafety Associations. He received a B.S. from Calvin College and an M.D. from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.
