Georges C. Benjamin MD

Georges C. Benjamin, MD, has been the executive director of the American Public Health Association since December 2002. He came to that post from his position as secretary of the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Dr. Benjamin became secretary of health in Maryland in April 1999, following four years as its deputy secretary for Public Health Services. As secretary, he oversaw the expansion and improvement in the state’s Medicaid program. At the American Public Health Association, Dr. Benjamin also serves as the publisher of the nonprofit's monthly publication, The Nation's Health, and The American Journal of Public Health. He is the author of over 100 scientific articles and book chapters. Dr. Benjamin serves on the boards of Research! America, Partnership for Prevention, and the Reagan-Udall Foundation, and he is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.

Dr. Benjamin is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois College of Medicine. He is board-certified in internal medicine, a fellow of the American College of Physicians, a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration, fellow emeritus of the American College of Emergency Physicians, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health.

Dr. Benjamin started his medical career in 1981 in Tacoma, Washington, where he managed a 72,000-patient visit ambulatory care service as chief of the Acute Illness Clinic at the Madigan Army Medical Center. A few years later, he moved to Washington, DC, where he served as chief of Emergency Medicine at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. After leaving the Army, he chaired the Department of Community Health and Ambulatory Care at the District of Columbia General Hospital. He was promoted to the acting commissioner for Public Health for the District of Columbia and later directed one of the busiest ambulance services in the nation as interim director of the Emergency Ambulatory Bureau of the District of Columbia Fire Department.