Rahul Gupta (born 1970 or 1971) is an American physician from the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

. In 2021, he was appointed to serve as director of the

Office of National Drug Control Policy The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) is a component of the Executive Office of the President of the United States. The director of the ONDCP, colloquially known as the drug czar, heads the office. "Drug czar" was a term first used ...

by President

Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...

. He formerly served at the helm of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health.

Early life

Gupta was born in India and raised in a suburb of

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

His father is a diplomat. Gupta earned his

Doctor of Medicine A Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated MD, from the Latin language, Latin ) is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the ''MD'' denotes a professional degree of ph ...

from the

University College of Medical Sciences University College of Medical Sciences (UCMS) is a public medical school, medical college in Delhi, India, affiliated with the University of Delhi. It is associated with Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital, which serves as the teaching hospital. History ...

Delhi University The Delhi University (DU, ISO 15919, ISO: ), also and officially known as the University of Delhi, is a collegiate university, collegiate research university, research Central university (India), central university located in Delhi, India. It ...

. He earned a

Master of Public Health The Master of Public Health (MPH), Master of Science in Public Health (MSPH), Master of Medical Science in Public Health (MMSPH) and the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH), International Masters for Health Leadership (IMHL) are interdisciplinary profes ...

from the

University of Alabama at Birmingham The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) is a public research university in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Founded in 1969 and part of the University of Alabama System, UAB has grown to be the state's largest employer, with more than ...

(UAB). He worked as an assistant professor of medicine at

Meharry Medical College Meharry Medical College is a private historically black medical school affiliated with the United Methodist Church and located in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1876 as the Medical Department of Central Tennessee College, it was the first m ...

and at UAB.

Medical career

Gupta ran the Kanawha- Charleston Health Department from 2009 to 2014. He became the director of the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health, an agency housed within the West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, in 2015. In this role, he focused on reducing overdose deaths from the

opioid epidemic The opioid epidemic, also referred to as the opioid crisis, is the rapid increase in the overuse, misuse or abuse, and overdose deaths attributed either in part or in whole to the class of drugs called opiates or opioids since the 1990s. It inc ...

. He also led West Virginia's response to the

Zika virus Zika virus (ZIKV; pronounced or ) is a member of the virus family ''Flaviviridae''. It is spread by daytime-active ''Aedes'' mosquitoes, such as '' A. aegypti'' and '' A. albopictus''. Its name comes from the Ziika Forest of Uganda, where ...

and

Ebola Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after in ...

epidemics. He left the role in 2018 to become the chief medical officer of the

March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to co ...

, a nonprofit organization.

Biden administration

Gupta was the lead member of the 2020

presidential transition of Joe Biden The presidential transition of Joe Biden began on November 7, 2020, and ended on January 20, 2021. Unlike previous presidential transitions, which normally take place during the roughly 10-week period between the election in the first week ...

for the

(ONDCP). Biden nominated him to be director of the ONDCP on July 13, 2021. His nomination was confirmed by the

United States Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and ...

on October 28, and he was sworn into office on November 18. Upon taking office, Gupta noted that addressing “the overdose epidemic that has claimed more than 100,000 lives between April 2020 and April 2021” would be his priority. In office, he has pushed for funding opioid addiction treatment programs for incarcerated individuals.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gupta, Rahul 1970s births American physicians of Indian descent Biden administration personnel Delhi University alumni Directors of the Office of National Drug Control Policy Indian emigrants to the United States Living people Physicians from Charleston, West Virginia University of Alabama at Birmingham alumni Year of birth uncertain