Acting Associate Administrator
Bureau of Primary Health Care
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Tonya Bowers is the Acting Associate Administrator, Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC), Health Resources and Services Agency (HRSA). BPHC supports nearly 1,400 health centers that operate over 16,000 service delivery sites in every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. Serving more than 32 million people nationwide, these centers provide cost-effective, comprehensive, and patient-directed care, coordinating a wide range of medical, dental, behavioral, and patient services. Ms. Bowers has been instrumental in the maturation of the program, helping to develop the key Health Center Program requirements and accompanying guidance and technical assistance.
Ms. Bowers previously served as the director of the Office of Policy and Program Development in BPHC, where she oversaw the expansion of HRSA-supported programs through more than $6 billion in funding awarded under both the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and the Affordable Care Act, and she served in several other capacities at BPHC from 1995 to 2008.
From March 2020 to December 2020, Ms. Bowers led policy and provider engagement operations for HRSA’s Provider Relief Fund, overseeing the disbursement of over 400,000 payments totaling more than $100 billion to providers. Ms. Bowers also previously served as Acting Associate Administrator for BPHC from April 2015 to April 2017 and April 2022 to February 2023. Ms. Bowers graduated from Trinity College (Connecticut) with a degree in third world studies and religion, and she has a Master of Health Science in Health Policy from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and Hygiene.