The Honorable Louis W. Sullivan, MD
President Emeritus, Morehouse School of Medicine
Louis W. Sullivan, MD, is the founding dean and first president of Morehouse School of Medicine (MSM). With the exception of his tenure as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from 1989 to 1993, Dr. Sullivan was president of MSM for more than two decades. On July 1, 2002, he retired and was appointed president emeritus. He continues to support the school, including its national fund-raising activities.
A native of Atlanta, Dr. Sullivan graduated magna cum laude from Morehouse College in 1954, and earned his medical degree, cum laude, from Boston University School of Medicine in 1958. He is certified in internal medicine and hematology, holds a mastership from the American College of Physicians and is a member if Phi Beta Kappa and Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Societies.
Dr. Sullivan was instructor of medicine at Harvard Medical School from 1963-64, and assistant professor of medicine at Seton Hall College of Medicine from 1964-65. In 1966, he became co-director of hematology at Boston University Medical Center and, a year later, founded the Boston University Hematology Service at Boston City Hospital. Dr. Sullivan joined Boston University School of Medicine in 1966 and remained until 1975, holding positions as assistant professor of medicine, associate professor of medicine, and professor of medicine.
Dr. Sullivan became the founding dean and director of the Medical Education Program at Morehouse College in 1975. The program became The School of Medicine at Morehouse College in 1978, admitting its first 24 students to a two-year program in the basic medical sciences. In 1981, the school received provisional accreditation of its four year curriculum leading to the M.D. degree, became independent from Morehouse College and was re-named Morehouse School of Medicine, with Dr. Sullivan as dean and president. In 1983, MSM became a member of the Atlanta University Center (AUC). MSM was fully accredited as a four-year medical school in April 1985 and awarded its first 16 M.D. degrees in May of that year.
Dr. Sullivan left MSM in 1989 to accept an appointment by President George H.W. Bush to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this cabinet position, Dr. Sullivan managed the federal agency responsible for the major health, welfare, food and drug safety, medical research and income security programs serving the American people. In January 1993, he returned to MSM and resumed the office of president.
Dr. Sullivan is chairman of the board of the National Health Museum in Atlanta, Georgia, and is also chairman of the Sullivan Alliance on Diversity in the Healthcare Workforce, based in Washington, D.C. He also serves as chair of the President’s Commission on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, and was co-chair of the President’s Commission on HIV and AIDS from 2001-2006.
In March 2008, Dr. Sullivan was appointed to the new Grady Hospital Corporation board of Trustees. In June, 2008, Dr. Sullivan accepted appointments to (a) the Health Disparities Technical Expert Panel (HDTEP) of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and (b) an Institute of Medicine Committee, “Improving the Organization of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to Advance the Health of Our Population.”
He is also a member of the boards of Africare in Washington, D.C. and of Callaway Gardens in Pine Moutain, Georgia.
Dr. Sullivan is the recipient of more than 55 honorary degrees, including an honorary degree in medicine from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.
Dr. Sullivan currently serves on the following corporate boards: Henry Schein, United Therapeutics, Emergent Biosolutions, and BioSante Pharmaceuticals. He is retired from the boards of General Motors, 3M, Bristol Myers Squibb, CIGNA, Household International (now, HBSC), and Equifax.
A member of numerous medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the National Medical Association, Dr. Sullivan was the founding president of the Association of Minority Health Professions Schools (AMHPS). He is a former member of the Joint Committee on Health Policy of the Association of American Universities and the National Association of Land Grant Colleges and Universities.
Dr. Sullivan is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity and 100 Black Men of America.
He is married to Ginger, an attorney, and they have three grown children: Paul, a radiologist; Shanta, an actress; and Halsted, a television comedy writer. They have two grandchildren, Paul Jr. and Brent Sullivan.
