SRPH founding dean Dr. Sumaya to be honored by HRSA

(COLLEGE STATION, TX) — Ciro V. Sumaya, M.D., M.P.H.T.M., dean of the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health, is one of five former Health Resources and Services Administration administrators invited to participate in the first HRSA Administrators Forum.

Titled “Directions for HRSA in the 21st Century,” the forum is in conjunction with the organization’s 25th anniversary celebration.

Dr. Sumaya, who was the HRSA’s fourth administrator and founded the HSC-SRPH in 1998, and other policy experts will address current HRSA employees Nov. 9 in Bethesda, Md. Its 1,600 employees comprise the nation’s premiere public health service agency in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and, with a $6.4 billion annual budget, is second only to the National Institutes of Health in budgetary authority.

“It has been a distinct honor and pleasure to have worked with such a wonderful public health service agency and federal level professional and nonprofessional employees so dedicated and passionate on improving the health of the nation,” Dr. Sumaya said. “HRSA is a very strategic federal health agency that often works behind the scenes in assuring a quality workforce of physicians, dentists, nurses and other health professionals, as well as a quality health care system of hospitals, primary care clinics and preventive health programs that benefit all – not just the insured patient.”

Prior to leading the HRSA, Dr. Sumaya was associate dean and professor of pediatrics and pathology at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and led the Health Care Workforce group of the Presidential Task Force on Health Care Reform headed by Hillary Clinton. A specialist in pediatric infectious diseases, he received his M.D. from The University of Texas and a master’s degree in public health and tropical medicine from the Tulane University School of Public Health.