Leadership History

Elizabeth M. Duke, Ph.D.
HRSA Administrator, 2001 - present

Dr. Elizabeth M. Duke was named HRSA's sixth administrator in March 2002, after serving as acting administrator for the previous year. Since 2002, Dr. Duke has overseen HRSA’s implementation of President Bush’s Health Center Initiative, which by late 2007 has added 1,100 new and expanded health center access points across the country, very close to the President’s goal of 1,200 new or expanded sites. She also guided the agency’s complex implementation of the new Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which was reauthorized in late 2006.

Before coming to HRSA, she held several high-level positions at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including deputy assistant secretary for administration in HHS' Administration for Children and Families and assistant secretary and principal deputy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget, now called the Office of Budget, Technology and Finance.

She entered federal service at the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), where she became director of policy and systems in OPM's Office of Training and Development, and founded and directed OPM's Government Affairs Institute, in the Office of Executive and Management Development, to train Federal executives to testify before Congress, develop budgets and, manage better.

Dr. Duke earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Douglass College of Rutgers University in New Jersey, a master's degree in political science and African studies from Northwestern University, and a doctorate in political science from George Washington University. She still teaches political science and American government at Washington, D.C.-area universities and mentors graduate students.

Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H.
HRSA Administrator, 1997- 2001

Dr. Claude Earl Fox, HRSA's fifth administrator, is currently a research professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of Miami (FL) Miller School of Medicine, and holds academic appointments at John Hopkins University in Baltimore and George Washington University in Washington, DC.

After leaving HRSA, Dr. Fox was the founding director of Johns Hopkins; Urban Health Institute, where he served until 2006. He served as State health officer for the Alabama Department of Public Health in Montgomery from 1986 to 1992 and was deputy State health officer for the Mississippi Department of Health from 1984 to 1986.

Right before coming to HRSA, Dr. Fox's service as HHS' deputy assistant secretary for health in disease prevention and health promotion allowed him to work closely with other HHS senior managers to set the Healthy People 2010 health care objectives for the Nation.

Born and reared in Charleston, Miss., Dr. Fox received his M.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine. He earned a master of public health degree at the University of North Carolina and is board certified in preventive medicine and public health, and board qualified in pediatrics.

Ciro V. Sumaya, M.D., M.P.H.T.M.
HRSA Administrator, 1994 - 1997

Dr. Ciro V. Sumaya, HRSA's fourth administrator, is currently dean of the School of Rural Public Health and holder of the Cox Endowed Chair in Medicine at the Texas A&M Health Science Center in College Station.

Prior to leading HRSA, Dr. Sumaya was associate dean and professor of pediatrics and pathology at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio and led the Health Care Workforce work group of the Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform.

A specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, Dr. Sumaya received his M.D. from the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and a master's degree in public health and tropical medicine from Tulane University School of Public Health in New Orleans. He received his B.A. from the University of Texas.

Robert G. Harmon, M.D., M.P.H.
HRSA Administrator, 1990 - 1993

HRSA's third administrator, Dr. Robert Harmon, is currently director of the Duval County Health Department in Jacksonville, FL., where he oversees more than 800 employees, 15 clinics and numerous public health programs.

After leaving HRSA, Dr. Harmon served as national medical director with the UnitedHealth Group. Before joining HRSA, he directed the Missouri Department of Health and oversaw public health in Arizona's Maricopa County.

Dr. Harmon received his bachelor's and medical degrees from Washington University in St. Louis, and a master of public health degree from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

With board certification in preventive medicine, he has written more than 50 publications on topics such as quality improvement, managed care, primary care, public health administration, and health policy.

David N. Sundwall, M.D.
HRSA Administrator, 1986 - 1988

Dr. David Sundwall, HRSA second administrator, is currently executive director of the Utah Department of Health.

In addition to his service at HRSA, Dr. Sundwall served as director of health staff for the U.S. Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee. He was president of the American Clinical Laboratory Association from 1994 to 2003, and for part of that time, served as chair of the Council on Graduate Medical Education, which advises the HHS Secretary on physician workforce trends and financing policies

Dr. Sundwall was an advisor, task force member and chairman on several other committees dealing with public health policy and quality for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Sundwall earned his medical degree at the University of Utah College of Medicine and remains on the faculty there in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

Throughout his career, he has worked in his off-hours to provide medical care in clinics; for many years he volunteered at Washington, DC's HealthCare for the Homeless Project.

Robert Graham, M.D.
HRSA Administrator, 1982 - 1985

Dr. Robert Graham, HRSA's first HRSA administrator, is currently professor of family medicine at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.

Besides his leadership at HRSA, Dr. Graham's career in Federal public health service includes senior positions at the Health Services and Mental Health Administration, the predecessor agency of the current Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA); and the Health Resources Administration, before it merged with the Health Services Administration to become HRSA. From 2001-2004, he served in a leadership role at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Dr. Graham also served as a professional staff member of the Senate Subcommittee on Health and as executive vice president and CEO of the American Academy of Family Physicians.

Throughout his career, Dr. Graham has spoken and written on health care reform and Federal health workforce policy. He was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, and in September 2000, the Academy renamed its Center for Policy Studies in Family Practice and Primary Care "the Robert Graham Center."

Dr. Graham, a native of Kansas, is a graduate of Earlham College in Richmond, IN., and the University of Kansas School of Medicine in Kansas City, MO.

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