About Dr. David Satcher
David Satcher, M.D., Ph.D., for whom the awards are named, was the 16th Surgeon General of the United States, and is currently the Director of the Satcher Health Leadership Institute and Center of Excellence on Health Disparities, and Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health at Morehouse School of Medicine. Ever since completing his Residency at the URMC, Dr. Satcher has had a unique friendship with the Medical Center and more recently, has served as a special advisor for them on matters regarding the advancement of the community health mission.
Dr. Satcher was sworn in as the 16th Surgeon General of the United States in 1998-2002. He also served as Assistant Secretary for Health in the Department of Health and Human Services making him only the second person in history to have held both positions simultaneously. His tenure of public service also includes serving as Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from 1993 to 1998. He was the first person to have served as Director of the CDC and Surgeon General of the United States.
Dr. Satcher presently occupies the Poussaint-Satcher-Cosby Chair in Mental Health at the Morehouse School of Medicine, which recognizes his long commitment to removing the stigma attached to mental illness. In addition to his distinguished career nationally, he has served since 2005 on the World Health Organization Commission on Social Determinants of Health.
While Dr. Satcher has played, and still plays, a prominent role nationally and internationally, he has always taken the time to return to Rochester, where his medical career began, and, in doing so, has left his mark on this community. Dr. Satcher performed his residence here at the University of Rochester Medical Center in the early 1970s. Since then he has continued to be involved in community health efforts here, including serving as an advisor relating to the medical center’s community health mission.
Born in Anniston, Alabama, on March 2, 1941, Dr. Satcher and his wife, Nola, reside in Bethesda, Maryland, and have four grown children.