USC Mann’s 2023 commencement ceremony will feature keynote speaker Janet S. Wright, MD, FACC, Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention.
Wright will give the keynote address on Saturday, May 13.
Wright was appointed director in the Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention in July 2021, after returning to CDC from a two-year detail in the Office of the Surgeon General as the acting Director of Science and Policy.
From 2011 to 2019, Wright served as executive director of Million Hearts®, a national initiative co-led by the CDC and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes in the U.S. within five years. In the first five-year phase, an estimated 500,000 cardiovascular events were prevented through the efforts in all 50 states and D.C. and over 125 public and private partners.
Prior to federal service, Dr. Wright served as Senior Vice President for Science and Quality at the American College of Cardiology from 2008 to 2011, and practiced cardiology for many years in Chico, California.
Dr. Wright received the Surgeon General’s Award for Exemplary Service in 2020.
The USC Mann commencement ceremony will be held Saturday, May 13. It begins at 10 am at McCarthy Quad on the USC University Park Campus.