Dr. Louis W. Sullivan is the founding Dean and first President of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM) in Atlanta, GA. With the exception of his tenure as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan was President of MSM for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he left the presidency, but continues to assist in national fund-raising activities on behalf of the school and is an Adjunct Professor of Medicine.

A native of Atlanta, Dr. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College, and earned his medical degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Medicine. He is certified in internal medicine and hematology.

Dr. Sullivan became the founding Dean and Director of the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College in 1975. He left MSM in 1989 to join President George H.W. Bush’s Cabinet as the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Dr. Sullivan’s tenure (47 months) stands as one of the longest of any HHS secretary in U.S. history.

As head of HHS, Dr. Sullivan managed the federal agency responsible for the major health, welfare, food and drug safety, medical research, and income security programs that serve the American people. During his time as Secretary, HHS undertook the most extensive food labeling reform in the country’s history, initiated the Human Genome Project, implemented major drug approval process reforms, including “parallel track” and combined 65 separate programs for children and families (and a supporting staff of 2,000) under a new, unified operating division, the Administration for Children and Families.

In January 1993, he returned to MSM and resumed the office of president.

Dr. Sullivan is Chairman of the Board of the National Health Museum in Washington, D.C. and is also Chairman of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce (funded by the Kellogg Foundation). He also serves as Chair of the President’s Board of Advisers on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, a member of the U S Secretary of Education’s Commission on the Future of Higher Education and is Co-Chair of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS.

A member of numerous medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association, Dr. Sullivan was the founding President of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools. He is a former member of the Joint Committee on Health Policy of the Association of American Universities and the national Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities.