Garth Graham

M.D., M.P.H.
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health, U.S. Dept. of Health & Human Services, Rockville, Md., Age: 32

Garth N. Graham, M.D., M.P.H., holds the dual positions of deputy assistant secretary for minority health and director of the office of minority health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He previously served as a White House Fellow and special assistant to the department’s secretary, Tommy G. Thompson.

Graham founded the Boston Men’s Cardiovascular Health Project to explore the poor dietary and exercise habits of African-American men. He was a founding senior editorial board member of the Yale Journal of Health, Law, Policy and Ethics, served on the editorial board of the Yale Journal of Biology and Science and was a reviewer for the Journal of Health Services Research. He earned an M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, graduating cum laude. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha medical honor society and named Yale President Public Service Fellow, and also earned an M.P.H. from the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health, with an emphasis on health policy administration. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and was a clinical fellow at Harvard Medical School.

Graham has been widely recognized for his accomplishments. He received the 2002 American Medical Association Leadership Award, the Partners in Excellence Award and the Miriam Kathleen Dasey Award from Yale Medical School.

Graham counted on his mother and two sisters for motivation. “My mother has always made us feel like we could do whatever we wanted as long as we believed in ourselves. She gave us all an extremely strong work ethic and more importantly the self confidence to go along with it,” he says. Because he believes that family supersedes all other interests, Dr. Graham says he would love to spend more time with his. “With all the milestones we achieve in life whether they be educational, political or otherwise, the only folks you have at the end of the day is your family.”