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1992.10.07 :  Appointment -- Claudia Baquet

Contact:  Blake Crawford (301) 443-5224
October 7, 1992

       HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., today announced the
appointment of Claudia R. Baquet, M.D., as deputy assistant
secretary for minority health in the Public Health Service.
       "Dr. Baquet is exceptionally well qualified to assume her
new responsibilities of coordinating disease prevention, health
promotion, service delivery and research initiatives concerning
disadvantaged racial and ethnic minority populations," Secretary
Sullivan said.  "As a scientist and educator, Dr. Baquet brings
both commitment and excellence to our efforts to improve the
health of racial and ethnic minority populations."
       As deputy assistant secretary for minority health, Dr.
Baquet will direct the Office of Minority Health within the
Public Health Service.  The office is primarily responsible for
establishing long-and short-range objectives for HHS minority
health activities and coordinating the department's minority
health programs.  
       With a fiscal year 1992 budget of $20 million, the office
maintains a national minority health resource center, active
liaison with state and local agencies, grant programs and other
related projects intended to support minority community groups
taking action on health issues.  Included among these efforts is
administration of Secretary Sullivan's Minority Male Grant
Program, which provides conference, coalition development and
demonstration project funding for efforts to improve outreach,
health and social services to minority males living in risk-laden
environments.  
       Dr. Baquet leaves her previous position with the National
Cancer Institute, where she was associate director for the Cancer
Control Science Program in the Division of Cancer Prevention and
Control.  As director of an $85 million science program, her
accomplishments included development of the first national cancer
prevention and control intervention research programs focused
solely on black and Native American populations.  These programs
seek to eliminate cancer rate differentials between the general
population and minority or medically underserved populations.
       She also played a major role in the establishment of the
National Black Leadership Initiative on Cancer and has been
instrumental in initiating similar efforts for Hispanic and
Appalachian populations.  She also initiated the development of
national cancer control research networks for American
Indian/Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, Hispanic and black
populations.
       "Dr. Baquet is one of the leading national experts on
cancer in minority and low-income groups, and her breadth of
interest and expertise will enable her to provide critically
important leadership to all of our Public Health Service-wide
minority health efforts," said Dr. James Mason, assistant
secretary for health and head of the Public Health Service.
       Dr. Baquet received her medical degree from Meharry
Medical College in Nashville, Tenn., and her master of public
health degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public
Health in Baltimore, Md.  She received training in pathology at
St. Louis (Mo.) University and Wadsworth Veterans Administration
Hospital, Los Angeles, Calif.


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