STANFORD (TIP): Stanford anesthesiologist Vanila Singh has been named Chief Medical Officer for the office of the Assistant Secretary of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services.  Health Secretary Tom Price, who appointed Singh, congratulated the Stanford anesthesiologist on her new role via twitter Aug. 25.  Vanila Singh will serve as the primary medical advisor to the Assistant Secretary for Health on the development and implementation of HHS-wide public health policy recommendations. Dr. Singh’s portfolio includes issues related to pain medicine, including opioid use and misuse; medical ethics; and public health. “I feel very honored to go into public service, and feel very fortunate that the president and Secretary Price have chosen such important priorities,” said Dr. Singh.

 Singh graduated from the University of California, Berkeley where she double-majored in economics and molecular and cell biology and completed her M.D. in medicine from the George Washington University Medical Center.  Dr. Singh has served as a clinical assistant professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Medical Center and as a clinical associate professor at Stanford University Medical School for anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine. Dr. Singh received a master’s degree in academic medicine through the University of Southern California’s Keck School of Medicine in 2016.

 Dr. Singh has been active in national medical organizations, serving as the Vice Chair of the National Physicians Council on Health Policy; an editorial board member of the Pain Physician Journal for the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians; and a member of the California Medical Association’s (CMA) House of Delegates. In 2014 with various Republican endorsements, Singh contested against incumbent Democrat Mike Honda as the US Representative in California’s 17th District (Silicon Valley) in 2014.