Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs
Dr. Guice is the (Acting) Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, and the principal medical advisor to the Secretary of Defense. In this role, she administers the Military Health System (MHS) $50 billion budget, is responsible for providing a cost effective, quality health benefit to 9.6 million active duty uniformed Service Members, retirees, survivors and their families, and oversees Congressional and legislative activities for the Military Health System. Dr. Guice also exercises authority, direction, and control over the Defense Health Agency, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
Dr. Guice graduated from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine and completed her general surgery training at the University of Washington. Dr. Guice received a master’s degree in Public Policy from Duke University and was selected as a 1997-1998 Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow. She served as a staff member of the Senate Committee on Labor from 1998-1999, and as the Director of Fellowship Services at the American College of Surgeons from 1999-2001. Immediately prior to joining the Department of Defense, she served as the Deputy Director for the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors – a commission co-chaired by Senator Bob Dole and former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala.