Gregg Margolis, Ph.D.

Gregg S. Margolis, PhD, is the Director of Health Policy Fellowships and Leadership Programs at the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). Dr. Margolis leads and directs five health policy fellowship and scholar programs at the NAM with a mission of building health policy leadership and expertise for the future: the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Health Policy Fellows; the NAM/American Academy of Nursing/American Nurses Association/American Nurses Foundation Distinguished Nurse Scholar-in-Residence; the NAM Fellowship; the FDA Tobacco Regulatory Science Fellowship, and the NAM International Health Policy Fellowship.

Prior to joining the NAM, Dr. Margolis served as the Director of the Division of Health System Policy for the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) where he led a team of policy experts in formulating, analyzing, and implementing policies to build strong, integrated, and resilient health care systems that are prepared for, able to respond to, and recover quickly from disasters and public health emergencies. Dr. Margolis has served on numerous White House, Interagency, and HHS-wide efforts and played instrumental roles in such major incidents as Hurricane Sandy, the Boston Marathon bombing, and outbreaks of fungal meningitis, Ebola, and Zika.

Before his federal service, Dr. Margolis was the Associate Director of the National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians, a nonprofit organization that serves as the national Emergency Medical Services (EMS) certification agency. Dr. Margolis has over 20 years of clinical experience as a field paramedic, including 12 years as a flight paramedic. He has held leadership positions and faculty appointments at the University of Pittsburgh and The George Washington University, and has played major roles in numerous local, state, and national education, curriculum development, and EMS improvement projects, leading to a broader health policy focus. In 2009, he became the first paramedic to be an RWJF Health Policy Fellow, where he served in the Senate.

Dr. Margolis holds a PhD in administrative and policy studies and an MS in health care supervision and management from the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Margolis is the author of dozens of publications in a wide array of topics in emergency medicine and health policy. He remains active in many outdoor activities and adventure sports (skiing, SCUBA diving, alpine mountaineering) and recently developed an interest in the acoustic guitar.