CAPT Penelope Royall, PT, MSW, was appointed the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, and Director, Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), Office of Public Health and Science in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on March 31, 2004. CAPT Royall is a Commissioned Corps Officer in the US. Public Health Service.

As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, CAPT Royall is responsible for strengthening the disease prevention and health promotion priorities of the Department within the collaborative framework of the HHS agencies. She is a Senior Health Advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health and to the Secretary of HHS.

Specifically, CAPT Royall leads the ODPHP in coordinating two key initiatives for Secretary Thompson - the President's HealthierUS initiative and the Secretary's Prevention Initiative: Steps to a HealthierUS. Together, these initiatives focus both on preventing disease by addressing major risk factors (such as physical inactivity and poor nutrition) and on reducing the burden of disease through appropriate health screenings and prevention of secondary conditions. The Secretary's initiative has a priority emphasis on diabetes, obesity, and asthma, heart disease, stroke, and cancer; also included are cessation of tobacco use and addressing youth risk taking.

In addition, CAPT Royall and her Office have primary Federal leadership responsibility for:

Healthy People 2010 — the comprehensive set of disease prevention and health promotion objectives developed to improve the health of all people in the United States during the first decade of the 21st century.

healthfinder® — the Government’s premier gateway Web site linking consumers and professionals to over 6,000 health information resources from the Federal Government and its many partners.

National Health Information Center (NHIC) — an Internet-accessible clearinghouse with a toll-free number provides a central health information referral service for consumers and professionals using a database of more than 1,700 national associations, Government agencies, and other organizations.

Dietary Guidelines for Americans — published jointly with the US Department of Agriculture every 5 years since 1980, this publication is the statutorily mandated basis for Federal nutrition education activities and currently in a revision year.

National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) — encompasses information and communication technologies to advance personal health, population health, prevention, and health care.

Prior to this appointment she served as the Acting Executive Director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports and as a Senior Public Health Advisor in the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health. Before joining the Office of Public Health and Science, CAPT Royall activated and led the Physical Rehabilitation Department at the new Federal Medical Center, Butner, North Carolina, as the Chief of Physical Rehabilitation. She has also served as Chief Physical Therapist and Clinical Social Worker at the Federal Correctional Institution, Butner, North Carolina.

CAPT Royall earned a degree in Physical Therapy and a Masters Degree in Social Work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.