Dr. Madhulika Agarwal is a seasoned senior physician executive with expertise in integrated health care systems and health policy. She retired from the Department of Veterans Affairs on Dec 31, 2016 after 30 years of service.

Dr. Agarwal served as the Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Policy and Services for the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2011 to March 2016. Her organization’s vision was to lead policy and services development to ensure the best possible health care outcomes for our Nation’s Veterans. In that role she provided executive leadership and direction to many of VA’s Chief Officers and other senior executives, including the Office of Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Policy and Planning and the new Office of the Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health for Informatics and Analytics, Office of Public Health; Office of Patient Care Services; Office of Research and Development and Office of Interagency Health Affairs. She also represented the Department at Congressional briefings, Hearings, with professional societies, veterans’ service organizations, other Federal agencies, private sector and academia.

From 2004 to 2011, Dr. Agarwal served as the Department’s Chief Officer for Patient Care Services. In this position, she led system-wide initiatives to enhance key clinical services that focus on personalized, accessible, high quality healthcare delivery. Some examples of initiatives undertaken while she was Chief Officer included the development of a Suicide Prevention Program to provide immediate assistance to Veterans in mental distress; the Telehealth program to improve access using technology, the MOVE program, which focuses on lifestyle changes and weight management through diet and exercise; the development of VA’s Polytrauma System of Care for seriously injured Veterans; and the expansion of comprehensive Home and Community Based Care services including Home Based Primary Care and the Medical Foster Home program designed to enable Veterans to remain in their homes and communities.