Dr. J. Nadine Gracia is the President and CEO of Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), a nonprofit, nonpartisan public health policy, research and advocacy organization that promotes optimal health for every person and community and that envisions a nation where prevention and health equity are foundational to policymaking at all levels of society. Dr. Gracia is a national health equity leader with extensive leadership experience in federal government, the nonprofit sector, academia, and professional associations. Before being appointed President and CEO, she served as TFAH’s Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer.
Prior to joining TFAH, Dr. Gracia served in the Obama Administration as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and Director of the Office of Minority Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In that capacity, she directed departmental policies and programs to end health disparities and advance health equity, and provided executive leadership on administration priorities including the Affordable Care Act and My Brother’s Keeper. Previously, she served as Chief Medical Officer in the HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, where her portfolio included adolescent health, emergency preparedness, environmental health and climate change, global health, and the White House Council on Women and Girls. Prior to that role, she was appointed as a White House Fellow at HHS and worked in the Office of the First Lady on the development of the Let’s Move! initiative to solve childhood obesity.
In 2023, Dr. Gracia was appointed by President Biden to a two-year term as a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. A first-generation Haitian-American, Dr. Gracia is active in many professional, academic, and civic organizations, including the Aspen Global Leadership Network, the Dean’s Council at the University of Maryland School of Public Health, and the National Academy of Medicine Culture of Health Program Advisory Committee. She is an ex officio member of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Roundtable on Obesity Solutions, a member of the Milken Institute Center for Public Health Advisory Board, and a member of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment (C-CHANGE) Advisory Board at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In addition, Dr. Gracia serves on the Board of Directors of Vaccinate Your Family and the Global NGO Executive Committee. She is a member of Women of Impact and Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.