REAR ADMIRAL SUSAN J. BLUMENTHAL, M.D., M.P.A.

Former U.S. Assistant Surgeon General and Senior Global Health Advisor

Founding Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Women's Health)

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Clinical Professor, Georgetown and Tufts University Schools of Medicine

Distinguished Advisor for Health and Medicine, Center for the Study of the Presidency

Senior Policy and Medical Advisor, AmfAR (Foundation for AIDS Research)

Rear Admiral Susan J. Blumenthal, M.D., M.P.A. served as U.S. Assistant Surgeon General and Senior Global Health Advisor in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), where her work for over 20 years as a top Federal government leader focused on a broad range of public health and science issues facing the Nation and world.  She is an internationally recognized medical expert and leader who has been a major force in bringing important public health issues including women’s health, global health, disease, obesity, and violence prevention, and mental illness to increased scientific and public attention, helping to place them at the top of our nation’s health care agenda. Dr. Blumenthal has also been involved in the national public health response to terrorism, emergency preparedness, biotechnology issues, and emerging disease threats including avian flu and AIDS. She has established many international health collaborations including a Middle East Health Initiative. She was a pioneer in applying information technology to improve health and was among the first in the government to use the Internet for health education, envisioning and establishing several award winning health websites.  Dr. Blumenthal was recently decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal of the U.S. Public Health Service, its highest honor, “for distinguished and pioneering leadership, groundbreaking contributions and dedicated public service that has improved the health of women, our Nation, and the world.”  

Dr. Blumenthal serves as Distinguished Advisor for Health, Science and Medicine at the Center for the Study of the Presidency (CSP) where she is leading the Center’s 2008 health care initiative and its health diplomacy programs. She also directs the Palestinian/Israeli Health Initiative at CSP supported by USAID and has established the first health information website in the region. Additionally, Dr. Blumenthal serves as Senior Policy and Medical Advisor to amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research and is Chair of the Global Health Program at the Meridian International Center. Dr. Blumenthal is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown and Tufts School of Medicine. She served as the Elizabeth Blackwell and Bundy Visiting Professor at the Mayo Clinic, the Lila Wallis Distinguished Professor of Women's Health at Cornell School of Medicine, as a Visiting Professor at Stanford University in Washington, as Distinguished Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, and as a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard University School of Government. On a special assignment from the government, Dr. Blumenthal served as the Associate Vice President for Health Affairs at George Washington University and as a Visiting Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the GW School of Medicine. 

In recognition of her pioneering leadership in women's health, Dr. Blumenthal served from 1993-1997 as the country's first ever Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women's Health within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this position, she developed innovative national initiatives, provided oversight and coordinated a $4 billion dollar budget of research, services, education programs and activities.  She worked across the agencies and regional offices of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, including NIH, CDC, CMS, and the FDA, to ensure that our national health programs targeted the unique needs of women. Dr. Blumenthal served as an advisor to the White House on women’s health and worked with governmental organizations, consumer and health care professional groups to advance women's health in the United States and internationally. Her accomplishments include developing a coordinated national approach to women's health that dramatically increased public and scientific attention to these issues, establishing National Centers of Excellence on Women's Health at academic centers across the country to serve as models for women's health care nationwide, forging international partnerships, launching a coalition of 80 groups on AIDS in women, and creating initiatives on osteoporosis, obesity, nutrition, physical activity, diabetes, and disease prevention that brought together federal agencies, private sector organizations and the media to respond to these public health problems. Additionally, Dr. Blumenthal made the fight against cancer in women a top priority. She served as the Co-Chair and was responsible for the coordination and implementation of the National Action Plan for Breast Cancer, a Presidential initiative that catalyzed many new programs to accelerate progress in the fight against this disease. She also organized a major public/private sector initiative on ovarian cancer. Dr. Blumenthal initiated a unique collaboration with the CIA, NASA and DOD called "From Missiles to Mammograms" that transferred imaging technology used for military and space purposes to improve the early detection of breast cancer.    

For the 12 years prior to this appointment, Dr. Blumenthal directed and served as a Branch Chief of major research programs (Chief of the Behavioral Medicine and Basic Prevention Research Branch and Head of the Suicide Research Unit) at the National Institutes of Health where her work focused on behavioral, biological, and psychosocial factors in disease, psychoneuroimmunology, disease prevention, obesity, nutrition, sleep disorders, and mental illness. During this period, she was a leader in exposing the inequities in women's health research and in stimulating new initiatives on gender differences in health and disease.

Dr. Blumenthal has chaired numerous governmental and professional organization committees and national and international conferences and Commissions. She served as Chair of the NIH’s Health and Behavior Coordinating Committee and Chair of the Federal Coordinating Committees on Women’s Health and the Environment, Imaging Technology, Breast Cancer and Domestic Violence and was Director of the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center. She organized and chaired the “Healthy Women 2000” Capitol Hill Conference Series and hosted its award winning television program. Admiral Blumenthal also participated as a member of the President’s Interagency Council on Women, was the United States representative to the World Health Organization’s Global Commission on Women’s Health and to the US/Mexico Bi-national Commission  on women’s health. She also served as Co-Chair of the US-Canada Conference on Women’s Health. 

As a leading advocate and national spokesperson on health, Dr. Blumenthal has briefed Heads of States, Health Ministers, and testified before Congress. She has often appeared as a medical expert on national television and radio news programs, served as the Medical Director of a Discovery Channel/American Film Institute Global Health Documentary Festival and as Chief Medical Advisor to a PBS Health Outreach Initiative. She has been the Host and Medical Director for an award winning television series on health. Dr. Blumenthal has authored many scientific articles, and been the health columnist for U.S. News and World Report and Elle magazines. She has edited books on Suicide over the Life Cycle, Behavioral Medicine: New Research Frontiers, psychoneuroimmunology, and on women’s health issues. 

Admiral Blumenthal is a member of the Board of Directors of several philanthropic and educational institutions including Save the Children, Stanford University in Washington, and the Meridian International Center. She has received numerous awards including honorary doctorates and has been decorated with the highest medals of the United States Public Health Service for her global leadership and landmark contributions to improving health.  Dr. Blumenthal has been named by the New York Times, the National Library of Medicine, and by the Medical Herald as one of the most influential and important women in medicine.  

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