Appointments
Dr. David N. Sundwall, Executive Director Health
Dr. David N. Sundwall is a primary care physician who has more than two decades of experience in public policy and service. He was born and raised in Murray,
Utah, and believes he may have been genetically predisposed to become a medical professional like his father, Dr. Val Sundwall, great uncles Dr. Olaf Sundwall
and Dr. John Sundwall, and brother, Dr. Peter Sundwall. After 23 years of working in various government and private sector health positions in Washington, D.C.,
he has returned home to lead the Utah Department of Health (UDOH). His nomination to serve as the Executive Director of the UDOH by Governor Jon Huntsman Jr,
was confirmed by the Utah State Senate on January 17, 2005.
Dr. Sundwall earned his medical degree at the University of Utah College of Medicine and completed further training at the Harvard Family Medicine Residency
Program. He remains on the faculty of the University of Utah School of Medicine as Associate Professor in the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine. Through
his career he is proud to have maintained his clinical connection to patients. For the past 17 years he volunteered a half day each week at the HealthCare for
Homeless Project, a public clinic near the U.S. Capital in Washington, D.C.
In a distinguished career of academic appointments, public service and policy development, Dr. Sundwall has been widely recognized for his professional achievements
and contributions to healthcare policy and advocacy. Dr. Sundwall was most recently President of the American Clinical Laboratory Association from 1994 to 2003 and
subsequently Senior Medical and Scientific Officer. He holds three medical school faculty appointments, including Clinical Associate Professor, Department of
Community and Family Medicine, Georgetown University College of Medicine, Washington, D.C. He has held numerous positions in the public health sector: from 1988 to
1994, he was Vice President and Medical Director of American Healthcare Systems, an alliance of not-for-profit multi-hospital systems. Prior to that appointment,
he was Administrator in the Health Resources and Services Administration.
Dr. Sundwall has served as an advisor, task force member and chairman of numerous committees involved with public health policy and quality including those
connected with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration. In addition, his federal experience included serving as the
Assistant Surgeon General in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. During this period, he had adjunct responsibilities at the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) including: Co-Chairman of the HHS Secretary's Task Force on Medical Liability and Malpractice, and was the HHS Secretary's Designee
to the National Commission to Prevent Infant Mortality.
Dr. Sundwall is an author or coauthor of numerous publications in peer-reviewed medical literature. He has also contributed chapters to many books covering a broad
spectrum of healthcare issues. He is licensed to practice medicine in the District of Columbia, and is a member of the American Medical Association (AMA) and the
American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP). He is on the board of Trustees at Spelman College in Atlanta, GA. He has many other national commitments that he
will slowly phase out to pay close attention to his new position at the UDOH.
