Dennis P. Williams, Ph.D., was appointed deputy administrator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in July 2002.

HRSA works to fill in the health care gaps for people who live outside the economic and medical mainstream. The agency uses its $7.2 billion annual budget (FY 2004) to expand access to quality health care for all Americans through an array of grants to state and local governments, health care providers and health professions training programs.

As HRSA's deputy administrator, Williams provides program direction and oversees the day-to-day management and operations of HRSA's five bureaus—Bureau of Primary Health Care, Bureau of Health Professions, HIV/AIDS Bureau, Maternal and Child Health Bureau, and the Special Programs Bureau—and two major offices, Office of Rural Health Policy and Office of Performance Review. With HRSA's administrator, he advises HHS' Office of the Secretary about policy for HRSA's programs and activities.

Prior to joining HRSA, Williams served as acting assistant secretary in HHS' Office of the Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget (OASMB) from 2001 to 2002. In this role, he was the Department's chief financial officer and chief information officer and was responsible for the formulation and presentation of the HHS annual budget to the Office of Management and Budget and the Congress. From 1985-2001 he served as deputy assistant secretary for budget in OASMB – currently called the Office of Budget, Technology and Finance – where he oversaw the development and presentation of the department's budget.

From 1977-1984 Williams worked in the OASMB's Office of Budget in various positions, including director of the Division for Social Security and director of the Division for Health Care Financing Administration, now known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Williams' significant awards include the James T. Blum Award for Exceptional and Distinguished Accomplishment and Leadership in Public Budgeting, presented May 2001, by the American Association for Budget and Program Analysis. In addition, he has received two Presidential Rank Awards: Distinguished Executive in the Senior Executive Service in 1997 and Meritorious Executive in the Senior Executive Service in 1991. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Boston College in 1965 and a doctor of philosophy from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at the Johns Hopkins University in 1976.

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