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Alexander Garza, Class of 1996, receives the medical school’s Outstanding Young Physician Award in 2008. President Barack Obama has nominated Garza to serve as Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
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Obama Nominates MU Physician Alumnus as Chief Medical Officer of Homeland Security
Garza would help lead nation’s response to all major public health threats
President Barack Obama has nominated Alexander Garza, MD, a 1996 graduate of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, to become Assistant Secretary for Health Affairs and Chief Medical Officer of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
If confirmed, Garza would lead all Department of Homeland Security (DHS) medical and health security matters, oversee the health aspects of contingency planning for all chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear hazards, and lead a coordinated effort to ensure that DHS is prepared to respond to biological and chemical weapons of mass destruction.
On July 28, the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs held a hearing on Garza’s nomination. The nomination must be approved by the committee before it can go before the full Senate for approval, but the committee’s chair, Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., stressed the importance of a full Senate vote in August.
“Dr. Garza brings significant qualifications relevant to the position of chief medical officer from his time serving in emergency medicine, public health and as a first responder,” Lieberman said. “The duties of the chief medical officer are essential to the mission of the Department of Homeland Security and to the public health and safety of disaster survivors. Dr. Garza, if he is confirmed, will play a vital role in our nation’s ongoing response to the H1N1 pandemic, which has continued to spread over the summer. That makes it especially important that this position be filled right away and that we move forward with this nomination.”
Following the hearing, Garza discussed how his medical training would benefit him in his potential new role.
“My medical training at the University of Missouri definitely contributed to my understanding of medical systems and emergency response,” Garza said. “Working as a paramedic for University Hospital gave me understanding of the challenges of emergency medical services outside of urban areas, but even more so, the passion and compassion that I saw in my teachers while a medical student taught me the best values of being a physician, public servant and leader.”
Lenard Politte, MD ’62, president of the MU School of Medicine Alumni Organization, met Garza in 2008 at the school’s annual alumni awards ceremony, where Garza received an Outstanding Young Physician Award.
“Dr. Garza is a high-caliber emergency medicine physician and leader who we are proud to claim as one of our own,” Politte said. “We have watched him excel in medical leadership positions in Missouri and Washington, D.C., as well as in his military service here and abroad. We’re excited to see him have this opportunity to serve on a national level.”
Garza is currently serving as a staff physician for the Level I trauma center at Washington Hospital Center, the busiest emergency department in our nation’s capital.
He previously worked as director of military programs at the ER One Institute at Washington Hospital Center, associate medical director of emergency medical services for the state of New Mexico, and director of emergency medical services for the Kansas City Health Department. He has served in the military as a battalion surgeon, as public health team chief during Operation Flintlock in Dakar, Senegal, as public health team chief during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, and as a special investigator and medical expert for Major General Raymond Odierno. He previously served as a paramedic, a flight paramedic and an emergency medical technician in Missouri.
Garza received his bachelor’s degree at the University of Missouri in Kansas City. After receiving his medical degree from the University of Missouri School of Medicine in Columbia, he received a master’s degree in public health from Saint Louis University School of Public Health.
“Dr. Garza brings many years of experience as both a leader in the public health field and a practicing emergency physician to the Department’s Office of Health Affairs,” said U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. “I look forward to working with him to prepare for and respond to all health threats – from the H1N1 virus to biological weapons – to ensure the safety of our nation.”
- Click here for Alexander Garza’s testimony before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
- Click here to view the Webcast of Garza’s hearing
- Click here to read the news release from the office of Janet Napolitano, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary
