Alumni/ae Spotlight

Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, FACP

By Sharon Lee (MHA ‘06)

Dr Jonathan Perlin was appointed Acting Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs on April 6, 2004.  As the Chief Executive Officer of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Dr. Perlin leads the nation’s largest integrated health system. 

VHA provides health care to over 5.1 million Veterans (and 7.6 million enrollees) throughout the United States. With a medical care budget of $27.4 billion, VHA employs directly employs over 193,500 health care professionals at 158 hospitals, more than 850 community and facility-based clinics, 135 nursing homes, 43 domiciliaries, 206 readjustment counseling centers, and various other facilities. In addition to its medical care mission, VHA is the nation's largest provider of graduate medical education and a major contributor to medical and scientific research.

Dr. Perlin had served as Deputy Under Secretary for Health since July, 2002. From December, 2003 to July, 2004, Dr. Perlin simultaneously served as VHA’s Acting Chief Research and Development Officer, directing a $1.8 billion research program specializing in basic, clinical, rehabilitation and health services research.

Dr. Perlin was VHA’s Chief Quality and Performance Officer, from 1999 to 2002. In that role, he was responsible for supporting quality improvement and performance management. VA is one of two Federal agencies recognized twice by Congress for “managing for results.” VHA’s Quality and Performance program has also been specifically recognized by the Innovations in American Government and the RIT-USA Today Quality Cup Programs.

Dr. Perlin’s background includes health care quality management, medical education, health services research, and medical informatics. Prior to joining VHA, Dr. Perlin served as Medical Director, Quality Improvement at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals – Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System. At VCU, he helped establish the Health Services Research Fellowship in the Division of Quality Health Care, Department of Internal Medicine, and was Associate Director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. Dr. Perlin is broadly published, maintains an academic appointment as adjunct Associate Professor of Medicine and Health Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University. He continues to see patients at the Washington DC VA Medical Center.

Dr. Perlin held previous appointments at the Richmond VAMC, where he led in the development and implementation of the “Firm (group practice) System” and served as a Firm Director. He was the inaugural Chief of the Telemedicine Section and developed an interstate network for providing clinical consultation as well as distributed education and administration.

A Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Perlin has a Masters of Science in Health Administration. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology (performing research in molecular neurobiology) with his M.D. as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Medical College of Virginia Campus.