Dr. Brett P. Giroir is a physician, scientist and healthcare leader with more than 35 years of experience advancing public health and medical science.

Dr. Giroir previously served as the 16th Assistant Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where he also acted as U.S. Representative to the Executive Board of the World Health Organization within the Department of State, FDA Commissioner (acting), and Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.  He was notably on the front lines of the COVID-19 response as a member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the national “Testing Czar.”

Earlier in his career, Dr. Giroir was the first physician to serve as an Office Director at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and led the Blue-Ribbon Panel for the Veterans Choice Act Reform of the VA Health System. In academia, he served as Professor and Executive Vice President and CEO of the Texas A&M Health Science Center and Vice Chancellor for the Texas A&M University System. Prior to that, Dr. Giroir served as a tenured professor and holder of two endowed chairs at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and Children’s Health in Dallas.  

In the private sector, Dr. Giroir has served as CEO of AlloVir and Altesa BioSciences. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Research!America, and has served on numerous Boards at prominent medical and research organizations, including the Texas Medical Center, the MD Anderson Cancer Center Moonshot Program, the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan, the Global Virus Network and the National Space Biomedical Research Institute

Dr. Giroir earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from Harvard University (magna cum laude) and Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (alpha omega alpha). He completed his post-doctoral training in pediatrics and pediatric critical care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and was a NIH Pediatric Scientist Training Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in the laboratory of Nobel Laureate Dr. Bruce Beutler. 

Dr. Giroir has been recognized with numerous national awards honoring his leadership and impact across public health, medicine and federal service.

He is the author of the recent book and audiobook, Memoir of a Pandemic: Fighting COVID from the Front Lines to the White House.