Trust for America's Health
J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer
Trust for America’s Health
J. Nadine Gracia, MD, MSCE has been named Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer with Trust for America’s Health, effective January 29, 2018.
Gracia will play an integral leadership role in maximizing TFAH’s capacity to improve and advance an effective public health system and address the intersectionality of complex issues that impact public health.
Gracia brings more than 20 years of experience in the public health field including most recently serving as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health at U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). After graduating from Stanford University, she trained as a pediatrician at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh. She became the Chief Pediatrics Resident, supervising 140 clinicians-in-training. Gracia later received a Master of Science with a concentration in clinical epidemiology at the University Pennsylvania, conducting research on community risk factors for violence.
Gracia was a White House Fellow from 2008-2009 working on the development of former First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative and on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policy related to teen pregnancy prevention. She served as the Chief Medical Officer in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health from 2010-2011 where she oversaw a portfolio that included child and adolescent health, emergency and disaster preparedness, environmental health and climate change, and global health.
As Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health at HHS she advised the Department on the elimination of health disparities and the promotion of health equity and provided executive leadership on Administration priorities including the Affordable Care Act and President Obama’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. She led the federal Office of Minority Health, managing 60 employees, overseeing a $57 million budget, and gaining experiences relevant to a chief operating officer. Under her leadership the Office became a high-performing agency, expanding the staff by 30 percent, improving operational efficiency, and pioneering innovative, multi-sectoral partnerships. She elevated national attention and action on health equity by collaborating with national, regional, state, tribal, and local partners in the public and private sectors; mobilized community dialogues and stakeholder engagement in response to public health crises such as the Flint water crisis, the opioid epidemic, and community unrest in the aftermath of violence; and represented the U.S. Government at global conventions.