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Dr. Terry Adirim

Former Performing the Duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs

 

Terry Adirim, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A., was appointed Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense and  performed the duties of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (ASD) for Health Affairs.  As the ASD, Adirim was the principal advisor to the Secretary of Defense and the Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness for all Department of Defense health and force health protection policies, programs, and activities.

Previously, Adirim was Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, Professor of Pediatrics and Chair of the Department of Integrated Medical Sciences at the Schmidt College of Medicine at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) in Boca Raton, Florida. In her role as Senior Associate Dean, she was responsible for providing leadership over the College of Medicine’s clinical enterprise including providing vision, strategy and oversight of patient care, clinical translational research activities and the FAU Medicine faculty practice. As Department Chair, Adirim was responsible for providing leadership, mentoring and strategy for a department comprised of approximately 80 core faculty and 1,100 affiliate, community-based faculty members representing a spectrum of medical specialties.

Prior to FAU, Dr. Adirim served as the Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Services Policy and Oversight in the Department of Defense, providing leadership over the Military Health System (MHS) policies and programs. The MHS is a large $50 billion integrated health system composed of 50 hospitals and hundreds of clinics world-wide and the TRICARE Health Plan serving 9.6 million beneficiaries. She maintains an adjunct academic appointment as Professor at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda Maryland. Previously, Adirim worked in senior leader policy positions at the U.S.  Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and academic medicine.  She continued to practice pediatric emergency medicine for over 25 years.

Adirim earned her M.D. with research distinction at the University Of Miami Miller School Of Medicine, pediatrics residency training at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Pediatric Emergency Medicine fellowship training at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, DC and Primary Care Sports Medicine fellowship training at DeWitt Army Community Hospital in Fort Belvoir, Virginia/Children’s National Medical Center. She has more than 200 journal publications, editorials, oral presentations and invited keynote speaking engagements.