Ryung Suh brings over three decades of executive management and organizational leadership experience and expertise and has been teaching at Georgetown since 2003, serving as Chair of the Department of Health Management & Policy from 2014-2019. He serves as Chief of Staff of the Washington D.C. VA Medical Center, a complexity level 1A tertiary care hospital, and directs an incubator lab and social impact investment fund. Dr. Suh previously served as the Chief of Staff, Veterans Health Administration, and as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; built and exited a middle-market health management consultancy that led major transformation efforts for federal health agencies; directed public and private sector enterprise-level modernization and organizational change initiatives; managed a commercial consulting practice serving the life sciences industry; and launched over a dozen successful businesses that have served government and private industry clients.
He served as the President of the American College of Preventive Medicine, as President of the American Association of Public Health Physicians, on the Board of Governors of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, on a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Committee, and in other leadership roles within organized medicine. He is a Fellow of the American College of Preventive Medicine (FACPM) and the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (FACOEM). He has served as a Senior Fellow with NORC at the University of Chicago, on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights State Advisory Committee, and as a Term Member on the Council on Foreign Relations.
Colonel Suh (retired) served as an infantry and medical corps officer for 26 years with a diverse set of operational, special operations, and military health system responsibilities. He is a combat veteran who has deployed to multiple overseas locations to include service as a Task Force Surgeon during Operation Enduring Freedom, where he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He has served as a flight surgeon with the First Special Forces Group (Airborne) and Joint Task Force Bravo, as well as command surgeon of the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. His military qualifications include airborne, ranger, jumpmaster, and flight surgeon.