RADM Penelope Slade-Sawyer, P.T., M.S.W., PCPFS Acting Executive Director
RADM Penelope Slade-Sawyer, PT, MSW, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, directs the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP), Office of Public Health and Science (OPHS) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and is the Acting Executive Director of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (PCPFS). RADM Slade-Sawyer is a Commissioned Corps Officer in the U.S. Public Health Service.
As the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, RADM Slade-Sawyer 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.
RADM Slade-Sawyer leads the ODPHP in coordinating three key initiatives for HHS: Healthy People 2010, the Department’s comprehensive set of national disease prevention and health promotion objectives developed to improve the health of all people in the United States; the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published jointly with the U.S. 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; and the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, published by HHS, designed to provide information and guidance on the types and amounts of physical activity that provide substantial health benefits for Americans aged 6 years and older. Together, these efforts 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. In leading these priorities for the Department, RADM Slade-Sawyer, through the HHS agencies and within OPHS, builds on HHS policy and programs based on the best available evidence on how to prevent or mitigate chronic disease through promotion of healthy lifestyle choices, medical screenings, and avoidance of risky behaviors.
RADM Slade-Sawyer and her Office have primary Federal leadership responsibility for:
Healthy People 2020 will provide a comprehensive set of science-based 10-year national objectives for promoting health and preventing disease and a framework for public health priorities and actions. HHS is currently leveraging scientific insights, new knowledge, lessons learned from the past decade, the recommendations of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on National Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Objectives for 2020 (federal advisory committee), the work of a Federal Interagency Workgroup, and public comments received via regional meetings and the Internet, to develop this next iteration of national health promotion and disease prevention objectives – Healthy People 2020.
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.
The 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.
The National Health Information Infrastructure (NHII) which encompasses information and communication technologies to advance personal health, population health, prevention, and health care.
As Acting Executive Director of the PCPFS, RADM Slade-Sawyer manages the activities and operations of the Washington, D.C. based Council, an advisory committee to the President and the Secretary of HHS. The Council supports initiatives designed to build a strong nation of healthy Americans through regular physical activity, sound nutrition, prevention, and avoidance of risky behaviors. RADM Slade-Sawyer works to recommend programs and strategies to Americans of all ages, backgrounds and abilities to be physically active every day.
