RADM Kenneth P. Moritsugu, MD, MPH

Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, The Deputy Surgeon General of the United States, is a passionate and very visible national and international spokesman for organ, tissue and marrow donation and transplantation. In 1992, his wife Donna Lee died in an auto accident and donated organs to six people and corneas to two. In 1996, his 22-year-old daughter Vikki Lianne was struck by a car and died; she donated organs to five recipients, and corneas to two.

Rear Admiral Kenneth P. Moritsugu, MD, MPH, has filled the position of Deputy Surgeon General of the United States since October 1, 1998, serving as the principal assistant and advisor to the Surgeon General. From February to August 2002, he served as the Acting Surgeon General, in which he had responsibility to directly oversee nearly 6,000 Commissioned Corps medical personnel of the U.S. Public Health Service, and to function as the nation’s top doctor.

From December 1987 to September 1998, he was assistant bureau director and the medical director of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Federal Bureau of Prisons, with responsibilities including medical and psychiatric programs, occupational safety and environmental health, and food and nutrition services.

Dr. Moritsugu has been representative to numerous national health care agencies and provided expertise to international organizations and governments, including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Germany, Mexico and the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands. Of particular note, he served as the official U.S. observer to the Council of Europe’s Select Committee of Experts on the Impact of the AIDS Epidemic on the Criminal Justice System in Strasbourg, France, and as the representative to the 75th Anniversary of the Pan American Health Board in Havana, Cuba.

Since 1994, Dr. Moritsugu has advocated for organ and tissue donation and transplantation, participating in the National Donor Family Recognition Programs in Washington, D.C., and filling key speaking engagements at numerous national and local events. In his private capacity, he has been a member of the board of directors of the Washington Regional Transplant Consortium, and a member of the National Advisory Board for the Minority Organ and Tissue Transplant Education Program. He is a past member of the board of directors of the United Network for Organ Sharing, and of the board of trustees of the National Kidney Foundation, and an active volunteer with the Transplant Recipients International Organization.

Also an educator, Dr. Moritsugu is an adjunct professor of public health at the George Washington University School of the Health Sciences, and adjunct associate professor of preventive medicine at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. He has spoken and written extensively in many diverse areas, including health professions education, credentialing and quality assessment, international health, health systems development, health care delivery to underserved populations, emergency response, correctional health care, managed care, HIV, health promotion/disease prevention, organ and tissue donation and transplantation, and most recently, bioterrorism.

Having completed residencies in internal medicine and in preventive medicine, Dr. Moritsugu is board certified in preventive medicine and is a certified correctional health professional. He also holds fellowships in the American College of Preventive Medicine, the Royal Society of Health, and the Royal Society of Medicine.

Admiral Moritsugu is the recipient of numerous awards and special honors, including the Surgeon General’s Medallion, the Director’s Special Achievement Award from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Joint Services Meritorious Service Award, the Army Achievement Medal, and the Coast Guard Arctic Service Medal, among many others. Furthermore, Dr. Moritsugu received Honorary Doctor of Science degrees from the University of New England and the Midwestern University of Chicago, and an Honorary Doctor of Public Service Degree from the University of North Texas College of Osteopathic Medicine. Additionally, in 2002, he has been granted Honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from Alliant International University and from Western University of Health Sciences in 2002. In 1997, the American Academy of Physician Assistants deemed him an honorary Lifetime Member, a distinction granted to only a handful of non-physician assistants.

Dr. Moritsugu was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. After attending Chaminade College for two years, he received his Baccalaureate Degree with Honors in Classical Languages from the University of Hawaii in 1967, an M.D. from the George Washington University School of Medicine in 1971, and an M.P.H. in Health Administration and Planning from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975.

Admiral Moritsugu lost his wife, Donna Lee Jones, in an auto accident in 1992, and his daughter, Vikki Lianne, in a separate auto accident in 1996. Both were organ and tissue donors. He is presently married to Lisa Kory, and has two daughters, Erika Lizabeth, an attorney in Washington, D.C., and Emily Renee.