HHS Deputy Secretary Addresses Islamic Medical Association of North America

	HHS Deputy Secretary Alex M. Azar II addresses the Islamic Medical Association of North America.
	HHS Deputy Secretary Alex M. Azar II with Dr. Ashraf Sufi, President-elect of the Islamic Medical Association of North America.

September 6, 2006 - The Honorable Alex Azar II, Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), spoke to the Islamic Medical Association of North America in Chicago on August 31, 2006; he emphasized preparation for a possible pandemic influenza, the need to continue the fight against polio, and the benefits of vaccinations to protect children against disease. Praising the ethics and compassion of the Muslim physicians and medical professionals, Deputy Secretary Azar also acknowledged the pain, violence, and injustice experienced in many predominantly Islamic countries and the tension felt by many Arab Americans, and stressed the opportunities for all parties to contribute to justice and peace.

Deputy Secretary Azar, the highest ranking Arab-American in the U.S. Government, told a personal story of a visit to Ellis Island with his children, which retraced the arrival of his grandfather in the United States after leaving Lebanon in 1920. His grandfather, a teenager with almost no money who knew almost no English, was stopped by an individual in a military uniform who would decide whether to admit him to this country. The officer was a member of the United States Public Health Service, now part of HHS. "It amazes me to think that just 85 years after my grandfather went though his six-second physical on Ellis Island, his grandson would be in charge of the Public Health Service," said Deputy Secretary Azar. "That is the remarkable potential of America, the reason we are all here."

Noting that many Muslim health professionals hold leadership positions in the United States, Deputy Secretary Azar cited the examples within HHS of the Honorable Elias Zerhouni, M.D., the Director of the HHS National Institutes of Health; Hamid Jafari, M.D., of the HHS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Immunization Program, now on loan to the World Health Organization in New Delhi to oversee polio efforts; and CAPT Ali Khan, M.D., the Acting Deputy for Infectious Diseases at HHS/CDC.

Deputy Secretary Azar also outlined U.S. government health programs in predominantly Muslim countries, and described HHS programs that offer assistance and opportunities to new immigrants to the United States, and Muslim Americans.

For more information:

• Alex M. Azar II, Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services, Remarks to the Islamic Medical Association of North America

Last revised: September 04, 2007