Daniel Derksen, M.D.

Daniel Derksen, MD is the University of Arizona Health Sciences Associate VP for Health Equity, Outreach & Interprofessional Activities. He is a Professor in the Zuckerman College of Public Health with joint appointments in the Colleges of Medicine and Nursing.
Dr. Derksen was born in Phoenix, attended UArizona for both his B.S. (1979) and M.D. (1984) degrees, did his family medicine residency at the University of New Mexico (1987), and was on the UNM School of Medicine faculty for 25 years. He returned to UArizona in 2012 and was the 2019 College of Medicine Alumnus of the Year.
Dr. Derksen completed a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellowship in 2007-08 with U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman (NM). He researched and drafted provisions to improve the supply and distribution of the nation’s health workforce included in Title V of the Affordable Care Act. Working for Governor Martinez in 2011-12 as Director, NM Office of Health Reform, he established their ACA Marketplace, now known as Be Well New Mexico which in 2024 has more than 56,000 enrollees.
Dr. Derksen directs the Arizona Center for Rural Health and is Principal Investigator (PI) of grants including the state and federally funded and designated State Office of Rural Health, and senior advisor for the AzAHEC Program. He is PI of the HRSA Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program. In his academic career he has been PI of federal, foundation and state grants of more than $100 million.