Louis Sullivan | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Sullivan in 2015 | |
| 17thUnited States Secretary of Health and Human Services | |
| In office March 1, 1989 – January 20, 1993 | |
| President | George H. W. Bush |
| Preceded by | Otis Bowen |
| Succeeded by | Donna Shalala |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Louis Wade Sullivan (1933-11-03)November 3, 1933 (age 92) |
| Political party | Republican |
| Spouse | Ginger Williamson |
| Education | Morehouse College (BS) Boston University (MD) |
Louis Wade Sullivan (born November 3, 1933) is an Americanphysician, author and educator who served as the Secretary of theUnited States Department of Health and Human Services during PresidentGeorge H. W. Bush's Administration and was Founding Dean of theMorehouse School of Medicine.
He was born inAtlanta, although his parents moved to ruralBlakely, Georgia, shortly after he was born. His father was amortician and his mother ateacher. His parents sent him, and his brother Walter, to live with friends in Atlanta during the school year where there were better public schools. By age 5, with inspiration from his family physician and encouragement from teachers and parents, Sullivan had decided he would pursue a career in healthcare.[1]
In 1950, Sullivan graduated from Atlanta'sBooker T. Washington High School as Class Salutatorian. He then enrolled atMorehouse College and graduated magna cum laude in 1954, before earning his medical degree, cum laude, fromBoston University in 1958. His postgraduate training included internship and residency ininternal medicine atNew York Hospital –Cornell Medical Center (1958–60), a clinical fellowship inpathology atMassachusetts General Hospital (1960–61), and a research fellowship inhematology at the Thorndike Memorial Laboratory ofHarvard Medical School,Boston City Hospital (1961–63).
He is certified in internal medicine and hematology, holds a mastership from the American College of Physicians and is a member ofPhi Beta Kappa andAlpha Omega Alpha academic honor societies.
Sullivan was an instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1963–64, and an assistant professor of medicine atSeton Hall College of Medicine from 1964–66. In 1966, he became co-director of hematology atBoston University Medical Center and, a year later, founded the Boston University Hematology Service at Boston City Hospital. Sullivan remained at Boston University until 1975, holding positions as assistant professor of medicine, associate professor of medicine, and professor of medicine. In his teaching, he specialized in "sickle-cell anemia and blood disorders related to vitamin deficiencies".[2]
He married E. Ginger Williamson, an attorney, on September 30, 1955. They have three children.
Sullivan is a member ofAlpha Phi Alpha fraternity.[3]
In 1992, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[4] In 2000, he received an honorary degree in Doctor of Letters fromOglethorpe University.[5]
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Sullivan became the founding dean and director of the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College in 1975. The program became The School of Medicine at Morehouse College in 1978, admitting its first 24 students to a two-year program in the basic medical sciences. In 1981, the school received provisional accreditation of its four-year curriculum leading to the M.D. degree, became independent from Morehouse College and was renamedMorehouse School of Medicine (MSM), with Sullivan as dean and president. In 1983, MSM became a member of theAtlanta University Center (AUC). MSM was fully accredited as a four-year medical school in April 1985 and awarded its first 16 M.D. degrees in May of that year.
With the exception of his tenure as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Sullivan was president of Morehouse School of Medicine for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he retired and was appointedpresident emeritus.
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Sullivan left the Morehouse School of Medicine in 1989 to accept an appointment by President George H.W. Bush to serve asSecretary of Health and Human Services. In this cabinet position, Sullivan managed the federal agency responsible for the major health, welfare, food and drug safety, medical research and income security programs serving the American people.
Among his efforts to improve the health and health behavior of Americans were: (1) the introduction of a new and improvedFDA food label; (2) the release ofHealthy People 2000, a guide for improved health promotion/disease prevention activities; (3) the public education program focused on the health dangers from tobacco use (including the successful efforts to prevent the introduction of "Uptown," a non-filtered, mentholated cigarette); (4) the inauguration of a $100 million minority male health and injury prevention initiative; and (5) a greater emphasis on gender and ethnic diversity in senior positions of HHS, including the selection of the:
In 1991, Sullivan formed theWorkgroup for Electronic Data Interchange (WEDI). WEDI was designated in the 1996 HIPAA legislation as an advisor to HHS. WEDI is an authority on the use ofHealth IT to improve healthcare information exchange in order to enhance the quality of care, improve efficiency, and reduce costs of our nation's healthcare system. In 2013, on the 20th anniversary of the original WEDI Report, WEDI brought together healthcare, corporate and government organizations to create an updated WEDI Report to guide the future of health information exchange. The 2013 WEDI Report was managed by an Executive Steering Committee led by Sullivan.
In January 1993, he returned to Morehouse School of Medicine and resumed the office of president until 2002.
Established in 2003, the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce [was] an outgrowth of a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation toDuke University School of Medicine. Named for former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., the Commission [was] composed of 16 health, business, higher education and legal experts and other leaders. Former U.S. Senate Majority LeaderRobert Dole and former U.S. Congressman and Congressional Health Subcommittee ChairmanPaul Rogers [served] as Honorary Co-Chairs.
The Sullivan Commission [made] policy recommendations to bring about systemic change that [addressed] the scarcity of minorities in the health professions. The work of the Commission [came] at a time when enrollment of racial and ethnic minorities in nursing, medicine, and dentistry has stagnated despite America's growing diversity. While African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and American Indians, as a group, constitute nearly 25 percent of the U.S. population, these three groups account for less than 9 percent of nurses, 6 percent of physicians, and only 5 percent of dentists.
The Sullivan Commission gathered testimonies from health, education, religion and business leaders; community and civil rights advocates; health care practitioners; and students. Drawing upon the expertise and experience of the Commissioners, and the witnesses who provided valuable testimony, the Commission's report, Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions, [provided] the nation with a blueprint for achieving diversity in the health professions.
Sullivan organized The Sullivan Alliance[7] in January 2005, to act on the reports and recommendations of the Sullivan Commission (Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions), and the Institute of Medicine Committee on Institutional and Policy-Level Strategies for Increasing the Diversity of the U.S. Healthcare Workforce.[8]
The Sullivan Alliance became a 501c.3. non-profit organization in 2011. The Sullivan Alliance: (1) raises awareness of the importance and value of achieving racial and ethnic diversity in the health professions; (2) disseminates information about "best practices" and resources that enhance the health professions pipeline; and (3) stimulates academic programs and partnerships in the health professions of medicine, dentistry, nursing, psychology and public health to create new—or more effectively implement existing—diversity initiatives.
The Sullivan Alliance actively participates in a project funded by theW.K. Kellogg Foundation to train mid-level dental professionals, thereby addressing the shortage of dentists and increasing the diversity in the dental professions.[9]
The Sullivan Alliance has developed an international consortium that is building a U.S.-Caribbeanhealth disparities research partnership that responds to theInstitute of Medicine's 2009 report, U.S. Commitment to Global Health: Recommendations for the Public and Private Sector,[10] by conducting research that lessens knowledge gaps about global health disparities. The project focuses onepidemiological research in order to advance understanding of the relationships among health factors such as: history-ancestry, language, indigenous health practices, life styles, and socioeconomic status. Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services through a cooperative agreement with NIH'sNational Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH-NIMHD), the United States of America (U.S.)-Caribbean Alliance for Health Disparities Research (USCAHDR) consortium includes NIMHD, The Sullivan Alliance; and TheUniversity of the West Indies.
Sullivan is chairman of the Atlanta-based National Health Museum.[11] The National Health Museum (NHM) will educate and inspire Americans to live healthier lives. NHM will help move our society from simply treating disease to promoting and maintaining health. NHM will build and lead a national health and wellness community with two platforms: a global online network and digital information hub called the Cyber Museum, and a visitor center at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park called the Experience Museum.
Sullivan serves on the boards of a number of organizations including:Henry Schein,United Therapeutics,Emergent BioSolutions, and BioSante Pharmaceuticals. He is retired from the boards ofGeneral Motors,3M,Bristol-Myers Squibb,Cigna,Household International (now HBSC), andEquifax.
Sullivan is the founding president of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS). He is a former member of the Joint Committee on Health Policy of the Association of American Universities and theNational Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities.
He also is a member of the boards ofAfricare in Washington, D.C., andCallaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, Georgia.
In 1985, Sullivan was one of the founders of Medical Education for South African Blacks (MESAB).[12][13] From 1994–2007, he served as chairman of the organization, which raised scholarship funds in the United States and South Africa for more than 10,000 black health professions students, who are now physicians, nurses, dentists and other health professionals in South Africa.
In March 2008, Sullivan was appointed to the new Grady Hospital Corporation Board of Trustees. In June 2008, Sullivan accepted appointments to (a) the Health Disparities Technical Expert Panel (HDTEP) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of HHS and (b) an Institute of Medicine Committee, "Improving the Organization of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Advance the Health of Our Population."
Sullivan has authored and co-authored many academic papers. Recently, he has also contributed to two books:The Morehouse Mystique: Becoming a Doctor at the Nation's Newest African American Medical School (Author: Marybeth Gasman. Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press. 2012); andBreaking Ground: My Life in Medicine (Authors: Louis W. Sullivan and David Chanoff. Publisher: University of Georgia Press. 2014)
In 1989, Sullivan and his wife Ginger founded the Annual Sullivan 5K Run/Walk onMartha's Vineyard inOak Bluffs, MA.[14] The race promotes their belief in the health benefits of daily exercise. The event celebrated its 35th anniversary in 2023 and approximately $800,000 has been raised to support theMartha's Vineyard Hospital.[14]
In 2024, Dr. Sullivan was inducted as a Georgia Trustee, an honor given by theGeorgia Historical Society in conjunction with theGovernor of Georgia to individuals whose accomplishments and community service reflect the ideals of the founding body ofTrustees, which governed the Georgia colony from 1732 to 1752.[15]
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| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | United States Secretary of Health and Human Services 1989–1993 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Order of precedence of the United States as Former U.S. Cabinet Member | Succeeded byas Former U.S. Cabinet Member |
| Health, education, and welfare |   | |
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| Health and human services | ||
