Photo: Gene Russell - United States Department of Veterans Affairs / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
David Shulkin fascinates me because he managed something almost impossible in modern American politics, serving both the Obama and Trump administrations on the strength of competence rather than partisanship. A physician first, he carried the unglamorous, low-reward burden of fixing veterans' healthcare, a cause that wins few votes but matters enormously. I respect leaders who treat public service as an extension of their professional ethics rather than ambition. He was eventually caught in Washington's turbulence, as principled outsiders often are, but I prefer to remember him as a doctor who never forgot his actual patients while standing in the political arena.
Overview
David Jonathon Shulkin (born July 22, 1959) is an American physician who served as the United States secretary of veterans affairs from 2017 to 2018 under President Donald Trump, after serving as the under secretary of veterans affairs for health from 2015 to 2017, under President Barack Obama.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- David Shulkin
- Name (Japanese)
- デービッド・シュルキン
- Reading
- でーびっど・しゅるきん
- Born
- July 22, 1959 (age 66)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Cancer / Boar
- Origin
- Philip H. Sheridan Reserve Center, Illinois, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- physician / official
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Hampshire College
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Physician — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.