RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H.

Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu, M.D., M.P.H., was appointed the Deputy Surgeon General by Assistant Secretary for Health and Surgeon General David Satcher on October 1, 1998.

A career officer in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service, Admiral Moritsugu served as an Assistant Surgeon General beginning with Surgeon General C. Everett Koop in 1988. Dr. Moritsugu was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. After attending Chaminade College for two years, he received his Baccalaureate Degree with Honors in Classical Languages from the University of Hawaii in 1967, an M.D. from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 1971 and an M.P.H. in Health Administration and Planning from the University of California, Berkeley in 1975.

He began his Public Health Service (PHS) career in 1968 and completed three tours of duty while in medical school. These included assignments in Community Nursing in Washington, Forensic Psychiatry at St. Elizabeth's Hospital in Washington, D.C. and Leprosy Research and Clinical Care at the USPHS Hospital in San Francisco. Having completed residences in Internal Medicine and in Preventive Medicine, Admiral Moritsugu is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine; holds Fellowships in the American College of Preventive Medicine; the Royal Society of Health and Royal Society of Medicine; and is a Certified Correctional Health Professional.

Over his career, Admiral Moritsugu has served in many diverse assignments. These include Staff Medical Officer at the UPSHS Hospital Outpatient Department in San Francisco; Medical Officer on board U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Taney; Regional Consultant for HHS in San Francisco for Medical Manpower Planning and Development; Chief of International Medical Education Programs; Deputy Director, then Director, of the Division of Medicine of the Health Resources and Services Administration; Director of National Health Service Corps; and Deputy Director of the Bureau of Health Professions.

Most recently, from December 1987 to September 1998, he served as an Assistant Bureau Director and the Medical Director of the U.S. Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Prisons, a position responsible for the health care of over 120,00 federal inmates and detainees, with a budget in excess of $400 million. This includes medical and psychiatric care, occupational safety and environmental health and food and nutrition services. During his tenure, the Bureau tripled in size due to the growth of the incarcerated population.

Admiral Moritsugu has been the federal representative to numerous national health care agencies and has provided consultation in health professions development to Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Germany, Mexico and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. He served as the official U.S. observer to the Council of Europe's Select Committee of Experts on the Impact of the AIDS Epidemic on the Criminal Justice System in Strasbourg, France.

Admiral Moritsugu has received numerous honors and awards, including the Surgeon General's Medal for Exemplary Service; the Surgeon General's Medallion; the Distinguished Service, the Meritorious Service, the Outstanding Service and the Commendation Medals of the U.S. Public Health Service; the Distinguished Service and the Meritorious Service Medals of the U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Prisons; the Army Achievement Medal; the Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal; and the Phillips Medal of Public Service from Ohio University, among many others.

He has additionally received the President's Award from the American Academy of Physician Assistants and the Society of Teachers of Family Medicine and the William B. Miller Award from the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine. He was recently deemed an Honorary Deputy United States Marshal by the Director of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Admiral Moritsugu holds Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of New England and the Midwestern University of North Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Within the past few years, he has received the Director's Special Achievement Award from the U.S. Marshals Service, the John D. Chase Award from the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States, the Nathan K. Davis Award from the American Medical Association, the Distinguished Service Award from the American Correctional Health Services Association and a Special Achievement Award from the National Commission on Correctional Health Care. In 1997, the American Academy of Physician Assistants named him an Honorary Lifetime Member, a distinction granted to only a handful of non-PAs.

He has been an Adjunct Associate Professor of Public Health at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences and has spoken and written extensively, in many diverse areas, including health professions education, health professions credentialing and quality assessment, the physician assistant profession, international health care, health systems development, health care delivery to underserved populations, emergency health care response in natural disaster, correctional health care, managed care, HIV, health promotion/disease prevention and organ and tissue donation and transplantation.

He was founding Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Certified Correctional Health Professions Program and has served for the past four years as the Chair of the American Correctional Association's Committee on Health Care in Corrections.

In his official capacity, Admiral Moritsugu has been a dedicated advocate for organ and tissue donation and transplantation. Since 1994, he has been an active participant in the Donor Family Recognition Programs in Washington, D.C., and a key speaker at numerous national and local programs on organ donation and transplantation.

In his private capacity, he is a member of the Board of Directors of the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), Secretary/Treasurer and Board member of the Washington Regional Transplant Consortium (WRTC) and member of the National Advisory Board for the Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program (MOTTEP). He is an active volunteer with the Transplant Recipients International Organization (TRIO) and has been a past member of the Board of Trustees of the National Kidney Foundation (NKF), the Executive Committee of the National Donor Family Council and the Washington Regional Transplant Consortium's Donor Family Council, its Public Affairs Committee and its Minority Affairs Committee.

Additionally, he serves as a Trustee and Treasurer of the Physician Assistants Foundation (PAF) of the American Academy of Physician Assistants, Chairman of the Board of the Anchor and Caduceus Society of the U.S. Public Health Service and member of the Board of Directors of the Royal Society of Medicine Foundation. He is the immediate past Chair of the U.S. Chapter of the Royal Society of Health.

He lost his wife, Donna Lee Jones Moritsugu, in an automobile accident in 1992, and his daughter Vikki Lianne in a separate automobile accident in 1996. Both of them were organ and tissue donors. Admiral Moritsugu has one surviving daughter, Erika Lizabeth Moritsugu.