David Shulkin

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David Shulkin – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life and public service of David J. Shulkin (born July 22, 1959) — physician, health executive, and U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs. Learn about his reforms, controversies, quotes, and the lessons from his tenure.

Introduction

David Jonathon Shulkin is an American physician and public servant who served as the 9th U.S. Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2017 to 2018 under President Donald Trump. Previously, he had held the role of Under Secretary for Health in the VA under President Obama. His tenure at the VA was marked by efforts to improve access, transparency, and modernization—but also by internal tensions, controversies, and his abrupt dismissal via tweet. His life intersects medicine, hospital leadership, government reform, and debates over public vs. private health models.

Early Life and Family

David Shulkin was born on July 22, 1959, in Highland Park, Illinois, on the Fort Sheridan U.S. Army base, where his father was serving as a military psychiatrist.

He is Jewish; both his parents were Jewish, and his family heritage includes service in earlier generations.

Shulkin is married to Dr. Merle Bari, a dermatologist, and they have two children.

Youth, Education & Medical Training

Shulkin earned his Bachelor of Arts from Hampshire College in 1982. M.D. from the Medical College of Pennsylvania (now part of Drexel University) in 1986.

He completed his medical internship at Yale School of Medicine and his residency and fellowship in general internal medicine at University of Pittsburgh’s Presbyterian Medical Center.

Additionally, he pursued advanced training in outcomes research and health economics as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania.

Career and Achievements

Private Sector & Hospital Leadership

Before entering full government service, Shulkin held significant leadership roles in health systems:

• He was Chief Medical Officer for University of Pennsylvania Health System, Temple University Hospital, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital.

• He served as President & CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City, and later as President of Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey.

• He founded DoctorQuality, Inc., a consumer-oriented information service about health care quality and safety.

His background bridged clinical practice, system administration, and health strategy—a mixture relevant to his later VA leadership.

Role in the VA: Under Secretary for Health

In July 2015, under President Barack Obama, Shulkin became the Under Secretary for Health at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

In that role, he oversaw the Veterans Health Administration, the largest integrated health system in the U.S., responsible for medical facilities nationwide.

During his tenure, he pushed for increased transparency (public reporting of wait times and quality metrics) and initiatives to address mental health, opioid abuse, access in rural areas, and care delivery improvements.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs (2017 – 2018)

In January 2017, President-elect Donald Trump nominated Shulkin as Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and on February 13, 2017, the Senate confirmed him 100–0, making him the only one of Trump’s initial Cabinet nominees to receive unanimous confirmation. He also was the first non-veteran to hold the post.

As Secretary, he managed a vast organization: more than 1,300 care sites, over 350,000 employees, and a budget and mission covering medical, benefits, cemeteries, and more.

Some of his notable initiatives included:

• Requiring all VA hospitals and clinics to publicly post wait times and quality data.

• Expanding veterans’ choice in accessing non-VA (private sector) care when VA capacity or timeliness is limited.

• Pushing modernization: leveraging telehealth, improving IT and data systems, enhancing mental health services and care access.

Dismissal & Aftermath

On March 28, 2018, President Trump announced via a tweet that he intended to remove Shulkin, naming Robert Wilkie as interim replacement.

His dismissal came amid controversies:

• Ethics/investigations over a VA trip to Europe in 2017: The VA Office of Inspector General reported that Shulkin’s staff had misled ethics officials and the public about the nature of an 11-day European trip, including expenses for his wife, tickets to Wimbledon, and other matters.

• Shulkin defended that the trip was largely for a Five Eyes intelligence conference, that side visits were personal and approved, and that he reimbursed certain costs.

• He later publicly alleged that political pressure to privatize VA services contributed to his removal, arguing that the VA’s mission and integrity were under threat.

After his government service, Shulkin has remained active in health policy, consulting, and public commentary. He has also authored a memoir, It Shouldn’t Be This Hard to Serve Your Country: Our Broken Government and the Plight of Veterans.

He also currently serves as a senior advisor in the Alvarez & Marsal Healthcare Industry Group.

Historical Context & Milestones

Shulkin’s tenure partly overlaps a time when many in U.S. politics debated the role of government vs. private sector in health care, especially for veteran health services. The VA has long been a flashpoint for criticism over wait times, care quality, and management inefficiencies. His efforts to increase openness, shift some routine procedures to private providers, and modernize VA systems put him at the center of ideological and operational tensions.

His unanimous confirmation underscores the bipartisan confidence (at least initially) in his competence and integrity, contrasting with the turbulence of his later dismissal.

His dismissal by Twitter also symbolizes modern-era shifts in how presidential communication and personnel decisions are made—less by process, more by direct executive messaging.

Legacy and Influence

• He is often seen as a reform-minded insider who tried balancing institutional improvement with the political constraints of VA and federal bureaucracy.

• His push for VA transparency (wait times, quality metrics) set a precedent for accountability within VA operations.

• His critique of the privatization pressures on VA remains a reference point in debates on health policy for veterans.

• His experience has become emblematic of the complexities and risks of high-level public service in an age of hyper-politicization.

Personality, Philosophy & Values

From his public remarks and writings, several traits and beliefs emerge:

• He often frames his role first as a physician, emphasizing patient care and service as core values.

• He stresses accountability and performance, e.g., that employees who violate trust or break laws should be held responsible promptly.

• He argues that VA modernization and borrowing from private sector innovations can help better serve veterans.

• He resists full privatization, insisting that VA is a unique national resource worth saving.

• He acknowledges that federal systems can lag behind private health care in flexibility and innovation, and the VA must adapt.

Famous Quotes of David Shulkin

Here are several noteworthy quotations attributed to him:

• “The first responsibility that we have to our veterans is to make sure those that need urgent care are getting care on time.”

• “A veteran deserves the very best health care anywhere. That means sometimes, they should go out into the private sector if something’s being done better than the VA.”

• “If there is evidence that an employee has broken the law, caused harm to veterans, or have violated the public trust, they should be terminated immediately. Instead, due to overly cumbersome and lengthy arbitrations … VA has not been able to remove employees as quickly as we would have liked.”

• “VA is a unique national resource that is worth saving, and I am committed to doing just that.”

• “It is my honor to serve … as Secretary of Veterans Affairs … we are eager to begin reforming … areas in our Veterans Affairs system that need critical attention, and do it in a swift, thoughtful and responsible way.”

These quotes reflect Shulkin’s focus on accountability, timely care, balancing use of private sector and government systems, and his view of VA as institutionally vital.

Lessons from David Shulkin

1. Reform is a tightrope. Attempting to improve large public agencies involves balancing change, culture, politics, and bureaucracy.

2. Transparency matters. Publishing wait times, quality data, and showing metrics invites both scrutiny and accountability.

3. Institutional missions deserve advocates. Even when under pressure, defending the core public role of VA was central to his public stance.

4. Ethics and optics are critical. Travel controversies and personnel issues can overshadow policy intentions.

5. Public service carries volatility. Dismissal by tweet highlights how modern leadership in politics is unpredictable.

6. Intersectoral insight is valuable. His prior hospital and health system leadership informed his efforts at the VA, for better or worse.

Conclusion

David Shulkin’s journey from physician and hospital executive to the helm of the Department of Veterans Affairs is a story of ambition, service, policy reform, and institutional friction. With a record of transparency, modernization efforts, and outspoken defense of the VA’s mission, his time in office remains instructive—and controversial.

His quotes reflect deep conviction about veteran care, accountability, and balancing public and private sector roles. His experiences also illustrate how difficult it is to effect change in vast bureaucratic systems, and how public servant roles in the 21st century are subject to both policy and political currents.

Let me know if you’d like a deeper dive into one part of his tenure (e.g. the Europe trip controversy, his reforms, or his post-VA work).