In 2020, Dr. Shah was appointed Secretary of Health at Washington State Department of Health, where he oversees the enforcement of laws protecting public health and rules established by the State Board of Health. Prior to this, Dr. Shah served for seven years as the Executive Director and the Local Health Authority for Harris County Public Health (HCPH) in Texas – the nationally accredited county public health agency for the nation’s third largest county with 4.7 million people. Dr. Shah was also Chief Medical Officer at the Galveston County Health District and an emergency department physician at Houston’s well-respected Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center.
Dr. Shah earned his BA (philosophy) from Vanderbilt University; his MD from the University of Toledo Health Science Center; and completed an Internal Medicine Residency, Primary Care/General Medicine Fellowship, and MPH (management & policy sciences), at The University of Texas Health Science Center. During his fellowship training, his clinical concentration centered on patients with HIV/AIDS. He also completed an international health policy internship at World Health Organization headquarters in Switzerland.