Jeffrey W. Runge, M.D. is the first assistant secretary for the DHS Office of Health Affairs. He is also the department’s first chief medical officer, for which he serves as the principal advisor to the secretary for public health and medical issues across the department. He is board certified in emergency medicine and holds the title of clinical professor of emergency medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. At DHS, he is responsible for coordination with other federal departments and agencies and the Homeland Security Council on issues of biodefense and medical preparedness. From March to August 2006, Dr. Runge served as the acting under secretary for the DHS Science and Technology Directorate. In 2001, he was appointed by President Bush as the twelfth administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the federal agency responsible for the nation’s highway and vehicle safety programs.  Prior to this, he practiced and taught emergency medicine as assistant chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte. He was also the director of the Carolinas Center for Injury Prevention and Control, where he spearheaded injury prevention initiatives that were national in scope. His academic interest is in the field of trauma care and injury prevention. Dr. Runge earned his B.A. (magna cum Laude) in 1977 from the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee, and received his M.D. degree from the Medical University of South Carolina in 1981.