CAPT Mahyar Mofidi, DMD, PhD, Director, Office of Minority Health

CAPT Mahyar Mofidi, DMD, PhD
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health
Director, Office of Minority Health
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

CAPT Mahyar Mofidi is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health and the Director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Minority Health (OMH). As the Director of OMH, he leads the office in its mission to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs that help eliminate health disparities. He brings more than 25 years of experience in public health across urban and rural settings to this position, as well as a deep passion for serving underserved populations.

CAPT Mofidi and the OMH Team are focused on the success, sustainability and spread of health disparity-reducing policies, program and practices. The OMH mission is guided by three programmatic priorities: (1) supporting states, territories and tribes in identifying and sustaining health disparity-reducing policies, programs and practices; (2) expanding the utilization of community health workers to address health and social service needs within communities of color; and (3) strengthening cultural competence among healthcare providers throughout the country.

Before joining OMH, CAPT Mofidi served for more than 9 years as the Director of the Division of Community HIV/AIDS Programs at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HIV/AIDS Bureau, where he provided leadership, oversight, and financial integrity for the administration of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Part C, D, and F dental programs. In this role, he managed a budget of approximately $300 million to support more than 600 community-based organizations in providing comprehensive health care and essential support services to more than 500,000 people with HIV, most of whom are from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds. CAPT Mofidi led a diverse team of 70 multidisciplinary public health professionals, focusing on strategic thinking, stakeholder engagement, prioritizing new and emerging public health concerns, and developing data-driven, innovative projects to advance the mission of the HIV/AIDS Bureau and end the HIV epidemic. During his tenure at HRSA, CAPT Mofidi also served as HIV/AIDS Bureau’s Chief Dental Officer and Senior Lead in rural health initiatives, and conducted numerous radio interviews to bring awareness to HIV prevention and treatment. In 2019, CAPT Mofidi was appointed Co-Chair of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) Disparities and Coordination Committee within the Office of Assistant Secretary for Health where he facilitated consensus building, resulting in a set of recommended strategies and action steps that were adopted by the NHAS.

Prior to joining HRSA, CAPT Mofidi served as a faculty member at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Dentistry and as a research associate with the Cecil G. Sheps Center for Health Services Research at UNC. His research and publications focused on access to oral health care for underserved populations and the relationship between spirituality and depression in a racially and ethnically diverse rural community.

CAPT Mofidi earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Doctor of Dental Medicine degree from the University of Louisville in Kentucky. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in health services research at the Cecil G. Sheps Center at UNC and earned a Doctor of Philosophy in Health Behavior degree from the UNC School of Public Health. He garnered research and academic awards including UNC Centennial and Impact Awards for best research benefitting the state of North Carolina. CAPT Mofidi is also a graduate of the Federal Executive Institute’s Leadership for a Democratic Society.