According to a media release, in the role of Chief Medical Officer of Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Dr Pritesh Gandhi will serve as principal adviser to the DHS, Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, and the administrator of Federal Emergency Management Agency.
US President Joe Biden appointed Indian American physician Dr Pritesh Gandhi as Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). According to a media release, in the role of CMO, Gandhi will serve as principal adviser to the DHS, Assistant Secretary for the Countering Weapons of Mass Destruction Office, and the administrator of Federal Emergency Management Agency. He will lead on issues regarding border health, natural disasters, pandemic response, acts of terrorism, and other man-made disasters.
Gandhi is a public health trained and board-certified internal medicine specialist. Prior to his appointment, Gandhi served as the Associate Chief Medical Officer and for the Director of Adult Medicine at People’s Community Clinic, which is an Austin-based, safety-net clinic that provides care to over 20,000 Central Texans who are uninsured.
Regina Rogoff, People’s Chief Executive Officer told the American-Statesman, “I’m sad that we’re losing him, but I’m very, very proud, grateful that he’s going to be serving our country.”
Gandhi also worked as an affiliate faculty member at the University of Texas Dell Medical School. He is a Fulbright Scholar and National Health Service Corps Scholar. He is also an Albert Schweitzer Fellow who focused on nutrition among the working poor in Boston. In 2018, Gandhi was named a Presidential Leadership Scholar.
Last year, in the 10th Congressional District of Texas, Gandhi was a Democratic Congressional Candidate. He lost in the primaries.
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