HSC hires U.S. principal deputy assistant secretary for health as chief strategy officer

Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams. (Courtesy/HSC)

Rear Adm. Sylvia Trent-Adams, U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, will join The University of North Texas Health Science Center (HSC) at Fort Worth as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer, President Michael Williams announced.

Trent–Adams, who served as Acting U.S. Surgeon General from April 2017 to September 2017, will start at HSC in October.

“Dr. Trent-Adams will bring to HSC a wealth of expertise and experience in improving access to quality health care to underserved populations and for creating solutions to our biggest public health issues, like the opioid crisis and COVID-19,” Dr. Williams said. “HSC and our Fort Worth community will greatly benefit from Dr. Trent-Adams’ leadership.”

Trent-Adams, PhD, RN, FAAN, has held numerous leadership positions at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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From 2015 through 2018, she was Deputy Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, a uniformed service branch of more than 6,000 officers on the front lines of public health. She was a key advisor to the Surgeon General to combat the opioid addiction crisis, also a focus for HSC.

“I am deeply honored and excited to join HSC,” Trent-Adams said in the HSC news release. “I look forward to working alongside this incredible team of faculty, staff, and students.”

Before she joined the Office of the Surgeon General, Trent-Adams worked in the HIV/AIDS Bureau managing the $2.3 billion Ryan White Program, which funds medical care, treatment, referrals and support services for uninsured and underserved people living with HIV.

She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Meritorious Service Medal for leadership during the Commissioned Corps response to Ebola in West Africa and the International Red Cross Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international honor given to a nurse.

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Trent-Adams is the second high-ranking HHS official to join HSC in the past year. David Mansdoerfer, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, joined the university in September 2019 as Special Assistant to the President.