Admiral Brett P. Giroir, MD

Brett P. Giroir, MD, has 35 years of experience as a physician, scientist, and innovator – dedicated to improving public health and medical science. Formerly, he served as the 16th Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Acting FDA Commissioner, and Admiral in the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. He also served as the US Representative to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization within the Department of State and was on the front lines of the COVID-19 response as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the national lead for testing and diagnostics (“Testing Czar”).  He has detailed his experience in his recent book, “Memoir of a Pandemic” published by the Texas A&M University Press.

Previously, Dr. Giroir served in numerous leadership positions in the federal government, academia, and the private sector. He was the first physician to be appointed an Office Director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and led the Blue-Ribbon Panel for the Veterans Choice Act Reform of the VA Health System. His academic career included service as Professor and Executive Vice President and CEO of the Texas A&M Health Science Center, Vice Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System, and before that, tenured professor, and holder of two endowed chairs at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health in Dallas. Dr. Giroir has served on numerous Boards, including the Texas Medical Center in Houston, the MD Anderson Cancer Center Moonshot Program, and the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan.

Giroir currently serves as the Board Chair for OncoNano Medicine in Dallas, and previously served as CEO of ViraCyte (ALVR: NASDAQ) and Altesa BioSciences.

Dr. Giroir has received numerous awards including the American Society of Nephrology Presidential Medal; the American Society of Hematology Outstanding Public Service Award; the Sickle Cell Community Consortium Healthcare Champion Award; the Society of Federal Healthcare Professionals, Tip of the Spear Federal Healthcare Leadership Award; American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Pharmacy Champion Award; Remote Area Medical, Distinguished Service Award; the Society of Critical Care Medicine, Founders’ Special Recognition Award; the Executive Office of the President Office of National Drug Control Policy’s Director’s Distinguished Service Award; and the Secretary of HHS Award for Distinguished Service.

His uniformed service decorations include the US Public Health Service Distinguished Service Medal with Gold Star Attachment, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Surgeon General’s Medallion, the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Pinnacle Medal, the Global Health Campaign Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and the Secretary of Defense Medal for Outstanding Public Service, among other awards. Dr. Giroir earned his A.B. in Biology (magna cum laude) from Harvard University and his Medical Degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (alpha omega alpha). He completed his post-doctoral training in Pediatrics and Pediatric Critical Care Medicine at UT Southwestern Medical Center and was a NIH Pediatric Scientist Training Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Bruce Beutler.

He is married to his wife, Jill, of 40 years, and is the proud father of two daughters and four grandchildren.

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