Dr. David Satcher completed his four-year term as the 16th Surgeon General of the United States in February 2002. He also served as Assistant Secretary for Health from February 1998 to January 2001, making him only the second person in history to have held both positions of Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health simultaneously.

Dr. Satcher occupies the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health at the Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). From December 2004 to July 2006, Dr. Satcher served as the President of MSM. In January 2002, Dr. Satcher was named the Director of the new National Center for Primary Care at the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. Before assuming this post in September 2002, he served as a Senior Visiting Fellow with the Kaiser Family Foundation, where he spent time reflecting and writing about his experiences in government and consulting on public health programs.

From 1993 to 1998, Dr. Satcher served as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Before that, he was President of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, from 1982 to 1993. Prior to that, Dr. Satcher served as professor and chairman of the Department of Community and Family Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. Earlier Dr. Satcher served on the Faculty of the King-Drew Medical Center and the University of California at Los Angeles School of Medicine and Public Health.

As Surgeon General and Assistant Secretary for Health, Dr. Satcher spearheaded the development of Healthy People 2010 which included the elimination of racial and ethnic disparities in health as one of its two goals. He also released 14 Surgeon General’s reports on topics that included tobacco and health; mental health; suicide prevention, oral health; sexual health; youth violence prevention; and overweight and obesity.

Dr. Satcher, a Morehouse College graduate (1963), is a former Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar and Macy Faculty Fellow. He is the recipient of over 40 honorary degrees and numerous distinguished honors, including top awards from the leading health professional organization. In 2005, Dr. Satcher was the recipient of the American Cancer Society Humanitarian Award. In 2004, he received the “Voice of Conscience Award” from Aetna for his work toward eliminating health disparities and was a Discovery Health Channel Medical Honoree. Also in 2005, Dr. Satcher was appointed as a Commissioner on Social Determinants of Health of the World Health Organization and became Co-Chair of the Ad Council’s Advisory Committee on Public Issues, which shapes the direction of the Ad Council’s Public Service Announcement efforts.

Dr. Satcher received his M.D. and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University in 1970 with election to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. Dr. Satcher would most like to be known as the Surgeon General who listened to the American people and responded with effective programs. His mission continues to be to make medicine and public health work for all groups in this nation. He not only is a champion of promoting healthy lifestyles, he also enjoys rowing, jogging, tennis, gardening, and reading.

Born in 1941 in Anniston, Alabama, Dr. Satcher and his wife, the former Nola Richardson, a poet, reside in Atlanta, Georgia. He is the father of four grown children and two grandchildren, all of whom he is very proud.