Boris D. Lushniak, MD, MPH

Boris D. Lushniak, MD, MPH, has led the School of Public Health at the University of Maryland since 2017. As Dean, he has developed several new academic programs, launched a global health initiative and provided leadership in the context of the global coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Lushniak was the U.S. Deputy Surgeon General from 2010 to 2015, assisting the Surgeon General in articulating the best available scientific information to the public to improve personal health and the health of the nation. He also oversaw the operations of the U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) Commissioned Corps, comprised of approximately 6,700 uniformed health officers who serve in locations around the world to promote, protect, and advance health and safety.

Dr. Lushniak served as Acting Surgeon General, 2013-2014, and was responsible for the release of the 50th Anniversary Surgeon General’s Report on Smoking and Health and the first ever Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent Skin Cancer.

In 2015, he retired as a Rear Admiral from the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps where he was an officer for 27 years. Among his credits in the USPHS, he was part of the CDC/NIOSH team that responded to the devastation at Ground Zero after 9/11 and the CDC anthrax team in Washington, DC. He was deployed to the Hurricane Katrina response in 2005, served as the FDA Deputy Incident Commander for the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and led the USPHS hospital providing care to Ebola patients in Liberia in 2015.

Boris Lushniak earned bachelor’s and medical degrees from Northwestern University and a master of public health from Harvard.  He is a board-certified physician in dermatology and occupational/preventive medicine.

He serves on the Board of Directors of the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation.