Personal Bio
Dr. Moritsugu is a physician-administrator with extensive experience and a proven track record of successful leadership, policy development, program implementation, evaluation, and administration, in a variety of health settings. These include health professional development, health care delivery to large underserved populations, emergency response, health policy, correctional health, nation-wide health care delivery systems, managed care, the uniformed services of the United States, mental health, prevention, obesity and overweight, diabetes, bioterrorism, pandemic influenza including COVID-19, health literacy, underage drinking, road safety, health coalition building, and biomedical start-ups. He has a special and personal expertise in organ and tissue donation and transplantation.
Rear Admiral Moritsugu was the Acting Surgeon General of the United States, in 2002 and again from July 2006 until his retirement from the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service (USPHS) in September 2007. A career officer in the USPHS for 37 years, he served as the Deputy Surgeon General of the United States from 1998.
Other key HHS and government positions in which RADM Moritsugu served include the Director of the Division of Medicine, Deputy Director of the Bureau of Health Professions, Director of the National Health Service Corps, and Assistant Bureau Director for Health Services and Medical Director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Dr. Moritsugu was the Vice President for Global Professional Education and Strategic Relations for Johnson & Johnson’s Diabetes Solutions Companies, and former WorldWide Chairman of the Johnson & Johnson Diabetes Institutes (JJDI). He further served as the Interim Chief Science and Medical Officer of the American Diabetes Association. He has been Chairman of the Board of Children With Diabetes, as well as a past member of the Boards of Directors of the American Association of Diabetes Educators, now Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists, the American Dietetics Association, the National Kidney Foundation, and the Diabetes Hands Foundation, among many others.
Dr. Moritsugu is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine; holds Fellowships in the American College of Preventive Medicine, the Royal Society of Public Health, the Royal Society of Medicine, and the National Academy of Public Administration; and is a Certified Correctional Health Professional. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Association of Diabetes Care and Education Specialists. He is an Adjunct Professor several universities and holds twelve honorary degrees from academic institutions, and the Distinguished Service Medals from the US Public Health Service, the Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons, and the Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences, among many other awards and recognitions. He is an Honorary Member of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, and the American Association of Physician Assistants. Further, he serves on the Board of Governors of Chaminade University of Honolulu, and is Chairman of the Dean’s Advisory Council for the George Washington University School of Public Health.