Accomplishments

For more than two decades, Rear Admiral Susan Blumenthal, M.D. served in senior leadership positions within the U.S. Federal Government working as a career medical officer in the Administrations of four Presidents of the United States. A hallmark of Dr. Blumenthal’s work has been the early identification of understudied public health problems and the ability to bring these issues to increased public and scientific attention. She is the recipient of several honorary doctorates and many awards for her work and was recently appointed as a Knight in the French Legion of Honor, France’s highest award for military and civilian achievement. She has also been decorated with the highest medals of the United States Public Health Service for “distinguished and pioneering leadership, groundbreaking contributions, and dedicated public service that has improved the health of women, our Nation and the world.”

Today, Rear Admiral Blumenthal continues her public health leadership in research, education and policymaking on global health, women’s health, prevention, HIV/AIDS, and other health issues. She has founded a new field of public health technology and is working to establish education, research and entrepreneurship opportunities for reimagining and innovating public health in the 21st century. Among her significant contributions to advancing health in the United States and internationally include:

Women's Health

Dr. Susan Blumenthal played a pioneering leadership role in bringing women’s health to the forefront of the national health agenda and has made major contributions to advancing the field.She served as the first Deputy Assistant Secretary for Women’s Health and Director of the HHS Office on Women’s Health, appointed for her groundbreaking 1980s work exposing inequalities in women’s health — particularly the lack of attention to sex-based differences in health and disease. Her appointment marked the creation of the first senior health leadership post focused on women’s health. Under her leadership, national awareness and funding for women’s health grew dramatically, coordinating a $4+ billion cross-agency program spanning research, policy, service delivery, and education (NIH, CDC, SAMHSA, FDA, HRSA, AHRQ, CMS). She advised the White House and built partnerships across federal agencies, professional organizations, and the private sector to advance women's health nationally and globally.

Currently, Dr. Blumenthal serves as the Honorary Chair of the Women’s Health and Technology Program and Fund (WHx) at the MIT Media Lab that is revolutionizing women's health through interdisciplinary innovation and is a member of the Gates Foundation Innovation Equity Forum that convenes a broad range of stakeholders to advance women’s health.

Key National Leadership and Impact

Established and led the HHS Office on Women’s Health, the first federal-level entity to integrate women’s health across government.

Mobilized all HHS agencies, appointing regional and federal women’s health coordinators and convening the first regional and national women’s health conferences.

Advised the White House on women’s health, working closely with the First Lady on breast cancer initiatives and public education campaigns.

Increased women’s health funding by 30% in four years, supporting comprehensive initiatives across multiple federal agencies.

Developed the first cross-cutting federal women’s health policy agenda, integrating research, education, service delivery, and prevention.

Institutional Innovations and National Programs

Founded the National Centers of Excellence in Women’s Health at 18 academic medical centers, pioneering integrated women’s health care, research, and education models.

Co-chaired the National Breast Cancer Action Plan, initiating cross-sector partnerships to accelerate innovation in breast cancer research and treatment.

Directed the “Missiles to Mammograms” initiative, applying imaging technologies from NASA, DOD, and CIA to improve early breast cancer detection.

Chaired federal committees addressing women’s health, breast cancer, and environmental health impacts.

Technology and Public Access

Established the National Women’s Health Information Center (4woman.gov / womenshealth.gov), the first federal online portal for health information, with an integrated toll-free hotline (800-994-WOMAN).

Launched additional award-winning public health portals, including: 4collegewomen.org (college women’s health), Nutrition.gov, SafeYouth.org, and GlobalHealth.gov.

Policy, Prevention, and Public Awareness

Was a major force in securing the inclusion of women in clinical trials at NIH and was a negotiator in policy changes with the FDA to require sex-specific data analysis.

Led national education campaigns on obesity, eating disorders, osteoporosis, and smoking prevention — including a Girl Scouts merit badge initiative, announced at the White House with the First Lady.

Promoted women’s heart health, partnering with the American Heart Association to produce the first national television special on women and heart disease.

Established and chaired a Federal Coordinating Committee on the Environment and Women’s Health, = to examine risks and policy responses.

Directed and chaired the Healthy Women 2000 initiative, a public health education campaign that convened national conferences on diseases affecting women including cancer, Alzheimer’s, autoimmune conditions, and menopause.

Served as the Host and Medical Director of a 13-part award winning television program on women’s health issues.

Participated in the White House Health Reform Task Force, advocating for women’s health priorities in national policy.

Contributed to shaping Healthy People 2010 goals, ensuring women’s health and sex-based differences were embedded in national health objectives

Equity and Underserved Populations

Founded the Minority Women’s Health Initiative, leading the first federal conference on minority women’s health and working to eliminate disparities.

Launched adolescent and college women’s health initiatives, addressing prevention, reproductive health, mental health, and education.

Co-chaired the HHS Steering Committee on Domestic Violence, building national strategies in partnership with legal and health organizations.

Global Women's Health Leadership

Represented the U.S. internationally, serving as the U.S. delegate to the WHO Global Commission on Women’s Health.
Organized and chaired conferences with Canada and Mexico on women’s health

Global Health

Dr. Blumenthal served as Senior Global Health Advisor in the Office of Global Health Affairs within the Office of the Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services and was involved in the national public health response to terrorism, emergency preparedness, and emerging disease threats including the anthrax attacks, SARS, avian flu and AIDS. In this position, she established several international health diplomacy collaborations including a Middle East Health Initiative. The Office of Global Health Affairs represents the Department to other governments, other Federal Departments and agencies, international organizations, and the private sector on international and refugee health issues. The Office develops U.S. global health policy and strategy positions and facilitates the involvement of the U.S. Public Health Service in collaborations with other agencies and organizations. The Office also promotes cooperation by the PHS Operating Divisions with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and provides leadership and coordination for bilateral programs with selected countries.

Dr. Blumenthal served as the U.S. representative on international collaborations in women’s health; convened and chaired conferences with Canada, Mexico, and in the Middle East; and was the United States delegate to the WHO Global Commission on Women’s Health and as a member of the President’s Council on Women.

Dr. Blumenthal serves as Senior Policy and Medical Advisor to AmfAR (the Foundation for AIDS Research).

Dr. Blumenthal leads the health diplomacy initiatives at the Center for the Study of the Presidency, including a USAID funded program to promote health activities between Israel and the Palestinian Territories.

Behavioral Medicine, Mental Illness and Suicide Research

Another major focus of Dr. Blumenthal’s career has been on mental health and disease, suicide, and violence prevention. For 12 years at the National Institutes of Health (1980-1993), as Chief of the Behavioral Medicine and Basic Prevention Research Branch, as Head of the Suicide Research Unit at the National Institute of Mental Health and as Chair of the NIH Health and Behavior Coordinating Committee, her work focused on mental illness and suicide research and education and on the creation of a national focus on disease prevention and behavioral medicine. Her scientific and educational contributions greatly advanced NIMH and NIH research programs in these areas integrating behavioral approaches into the fabric of all NIH institutes and also significantly increased awareness and knowledge about the causes, treatments, and real life impact of mental illness.

In 2001, at the request of the Secretary, US Department of Health and Human Services, she led the development and coordination of a Departmental action plan to address the mental health needs of children affected by the terrorist attacks against our nation. Many of the recommendations of this plan were implemented by HHS agencies. She developed public education materials on the mental health effects of terrorism, convened and chaired a national conference, and worked with senior federal, state, and local health officials to identify and design intervention strategies to promote recovery and resiliency.

She was an architect of the HHS Healthier US public education campaign on disease prevention.

Dr. Blumenthal served as the Chair of Save the Children’s CHANGE National Advisory Council on Childhood Obesity Prevention.

She served as Senior Public Health Advisor to the White House Council on Youth Violence, contributing to the coordination of the Federal response to this public health problem, which had previously been fragmented across agencies, fostering new initiatives, and collaborations between government agencies. She established and served as the Medical Director of the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center creating a website (safeyouth.org) that linked all federal resources on this public health problem.

In 1992, Dr. Blumenthal was appointed by the Director of the NIH to serve as Co-Chair of the NIH Transition Task Force that fostered reintegration of the research components of the former Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA) – the National Institute of Mental Health, the NIAAA, and the National Institute on Drug Abuse – into the NIH family. She provided leadership in increasing attention to prevention, behavioral medicine, and health services research at the NIH and coordinated research on health and behavior across NIH institutes and centers. Dr. Blumenthal developed initiatives and programs to foster research and to heighten scientific and public awareness of mental illness and also, the contributions of behavioral, lifestyle and environmental factors in the etiology, treatment and prevention of diseases including cardiovascular illnesses, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. She coordinated nutrition and sleep disorders research at the NIMH and served as a member of the National Commission on Sleep Disorders Research. During her NIH service, she provided leadership in exposing the inequities in women’s health research and stimulated new initiatives on sex differences in health and disease and promoted career development and leadership opportunities for women in academic medicine and in the Federal government.

Dr. Blumenthal served as Chief of the Basic Prevention and Behavioral Medicine Research Branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. In this position, she developed and administered a research program focusing on disease prevention, the biological and psychosocial risk factors influencing the development and course of medical illnesses, behavioral problems, and disorders including eating disorders, sleep disorders, pain, heart disease, diabetes, stroke, and health damaging behaviors. She helped develop a new field of psychoneuroimmunology. Dr. Blumenthal identified critical public health issues, developed new initiatives and then coordinated research programs within the NIMH. To stimulate research, she organized and chaired numerous NIMH conferences on suicide, AIDS, eating disorders, women’s mental health issues, genetics, stress, sleep disorders, chronic fatigue syndrome, and co-morbidity of mental and physical illnesses.

In the 1980’s, Dr. Blumenthal served as the Head of the Suicide Research Unit and Coordinator of Project Depression at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). At a time when there was only minimal scientific and public attention to the public health problem of suicide, she initiated a national suicide research and prevention program at the NIMH. Dr. Blumenthal stimulated the systematic study of the biological, behavioral, and psychological factors that contribute to suicidal behavior. She was among the first to address suicide as a public health problem emphasizing the importance of the early detection and treatment of mental illness as a cornerstone of suicide prevention. She developed a new model for understanding suicidal behavior, significantly increasing research and prevention programs on this public health problem, and edited a major book, Suicide over the Life Cycle. Dr. Blumenthal served as a national spokesperson and the NIMH’s leading expert on suicide research and prevention educating the public and health care professionals about this public health problem. She served as medical director for a videodisc on the assessment of suicidal behavior for health care providers and contributed to the work of the Secretary’s Task Force on Youth Suicide Prevention. Dr. Blumenthal convened and chaired numerous conferences, developed research initiatives, and fostered scientific and public attention to increase knowledge and to prevent suicide.
- Initiated and chaired the first Federal conference on Women and AIDS. Focused scientific attention on AIDS in women, a population that had not been a focus of national efforts until that time.
- Stimulated research on sex differences in HIV infection.
- Was the major force at the NIMH in initiating new federal initiatives on the examination of sex differences in mental illness. Stimulated research on the psychobiology of female reproductive events across the life cycle, convened numerous conferences and edited books on these issues.
- Convened a major conference to reexamine the field of behavioral medicine and set new research directions. This document provided the foundation for new research initiatives at NIH on disease prevention.
- Fostered new research on eating disorders, convened several conferences and stimulated research initiatives on this public health problem.
- Fostered the emerging field of psychoneuroimmunology, stimulating new research, convening conferences and disseminating information through conferences and monographs. Organized and chaired the first Mind/Body conference at the NIH with a major focus on disease prevention. Co-edited a book on psychoneuroimmunology.
- Played a major national role in bringing women’s health issues to the fore. Developed a national research agenda at the NIMH on these issues. Her contributions were a major force in raising awareness about the exclusion of women from clinical trials and in promoting the examination of sex and gender based differences in research within the NIMH, NIH and nationally.

Dr. Blumenthal served as Coordinator of Project Depression, the precursor of the NIMH’s Depression Awareness and Treatment Campaign, the first national education campaign on clinical depression. She collaborated with mental health consumer and health care professional groups to develop national campaigns to destigmatize mental illness and to educate health care providers and the public about the causes and treatment of mental disorders.

Health Technology

Dr. Blumenthal was at the forefront in the Federal government of applying technology to improve health. She envisioned and directed the development and implementation of several award-winning national resources that provide a centralized point of access to a wealth of health information in the Federal government and private sector through easy to use, toll-free telephone numbers and internet sites. Long before most government agencies had their information online, she conceptualized and established the National Women’s Health Information Resource Center located at 800-994-WOMAN and www.4woman.org. Envisioned and directed the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center (launched in a Presidential radio address) located at 866-SAFEYOUTH and www.safeyouth.org in collaboration with the CDC and other Federal departments that provides a single point of access to information, fact sheets, research opportunities and other resources on this public health issue.

Created and directed www.nutrition.gov, an award-winning internet portal to information about nutrition, physical activity, food safety, nutrition assistance programs, and biotechnology.

As a pioneer in health information technology, Dr. Blumenthal was appointed by the Assistant Secretary for Health to serve as the Chair of the Consumer Information Technology Integration Initiative for the Office of Public Health and Science in the US Department of Health and Human Services to evaluate the current state of information technology and develop a coordinated approach to these resources in HHS.

Evaluated and enriched globalhealth,gov, strengthening it to become a major portal for comprehensive information resources on global health.

Envisioned and spearheaded the unique “Missiles to Mammograms” initiative involving the Director of the CIA, the Administrator of NASA and the Director of the Army’s Medical Research Command, in an innovative program that transferred CIA, NASA, and DOD imaging technology used for missile and target recognition and space exploration to improve the early detection of breast cancer. This initiative spearheaded the use of digital mammography and resulted in software that provides computer-assisted diagnosis of breast cancer detection, increasing the accuracy of mammography. It is currently being used in medical centers across the country to the benefit of millions of American women.

Established and chaired a Federal committee and convened many national conferences to identify and transfer technologies from government agencies and other fields to improve the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease including fostering telemedicine and distance learning, pioneering the use of these technologies to improve health.

Dr. Blumenthal founded a new field of public health technology, convened conferences and has been a major force in the establishment of the first School of Technology for Public Health in the world at Arizona State University as well as stimulating initiatives at other universities. This new field engages and trains professionals who are bilingual in public health and technology to design a 21st century integrated, responsive public health system that delivers interventions in novel ways at scale. This emerging field of education, research and entrepreneurship is accelerating tech innovation to improve health in America and globally.

She's organizing a National Summit on Public Health and AI.

Education and Communication

Rear Admiral Blumenthal served as a national spokesperson on health issues briefing Heads of States, Health Ministers, and testifying before Congress as well as appearing as a medical expert on national television and radio news programs. She served as the Medical Director of a Discovery Channel/American Film Institute Global Health Documentary Film Festival, as a Medical Advisor to PBS, and as the Host and Medical Director for an award winning television series on women's health.

Dr. Blumenthal established several public and health care provider education campaigns on public health technology, depression, panic disorder, and women’s health issues.

Dr. Blumenthal founded a new field of public health technology, convened conferences and has been a major force in establishing the first School of Technology for Public Health in the world at Arizona State University and initiatives at other universities.

She is a committed and effective educator and valued mentor for undergraduate, public health and medical students. Rear Admiral Blumenthal serves as a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab, as a Provost Distinguished Professor at Northeastern University, and as Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Georgetown and Tufts University Schools of Medicine. Additionally, she has served as the Lila Wallis Distinguished Professor of Women’s Studies at Cornell School of Medicine, as the Distinguished Visiting Professor of Women’s Studies at Brandeis University, as the Bundy Visiting Professor and Elizabeth Blackwell Lecturer at the Mayo Clinic, as Visiting Professor at Stanford University in Washington and as a Fellow at Harvard University School of Government.

Dr. Blumenthal has received many awards and medals including honorary doctorates for her outstanding leadership and distinguished contributions to improving health in the United States. She has been named by the New York Times as one of the top twelve doctors in the women’s health field and by the Medical Herald as one of the twenty most influential women in medicine.

Dr. Blumenthal has authored numerous publications and edited several books including Suicide over the Life Cycle. She served as the Scientific Editor of the Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Suicide, contributed to the Surgeon General’s Call to Action on Obesity Prevention,and as a member of the editorial boards of scientific journals including the Journal of Women’s Health.

Dr. Blumenthal serves as the health columnist for U.S. News and World Report and Elle magazines.

Dr. Blumenthal’s leadership and contributions to improving women’s health and to advancing national and global health have been recognized with numerous awards including honorary doctorates and the highest medals of the United States Public Health Service and being appointed as a Knight (Chevalier) in the French Legion of Honor. She has been named by the New York Times and by the Medical Herald as one of the most influential and important women in medicine.