Albert V. Baez Award

Captain Mercedes Benitez-McCrary is a board-certified bilingual Speech Language Pathologist specializing in geriatric care, dysphagia rehabilitation, and the diagnosis and treatment of military patients with traumatic brain injuries.  In her current role at the U.S. Public Health Service, she’s a leading global health-science policy expert specializing in public health and disease prevention.

As impressive a professional summary as that may be, it only hints at the remarkable career this medical professional and public servant has had.

The daughter of Puerto Rican parents and one of eight children,  her journey has taken her from the New York borough of the Bronx to the upper echelons of the U.S. Public Health Service, where she’s tackled some of our nation’s most pressing public health crises.

After completing her undergraduate and early graduate work in speech pathology at George Washington University by the time she was 24, she excelled in posts at Howard University and later at what is now the Rutgers School of Biomedical and Health Sciences.  She then started her own speech pathology practice and quickly established a reputation as a leader in her field.

In 2001, Captain Benitez-McCrary joined the U.S. Public Health Services as a commissioned officer.  For the past 19 years, she has worked with several Surgeons General to oversee critical federal contracts, advocate for expanded focus on minority health issues afflicting underserved communities, and support USPHS response efforts in the field following disasters like Hurricanes Katrina and Maria, among many other duties.

Captain Benitez-McCrary made history in 2016 when Surgeon General Vivek Murthy appointed her Chief Professional Officer of Therapist Rehabilitation, making her the first Latina to ever hold a position that senior at the USPHS. In that role, she was responsible for nearly 200 officers stationed in both rural and urban medical settings.

She’s also been active in the Hispanic Officers Advisory Committee, and she mentors many up and coming Latinos and African Americans so that they can follow in her footsteps.

In 2017, Captain Benitez-McCrary earned her Doctorate of Health Sciences / Public Health from A.T. Still University. Her already history-making tenure at the Public Health Service was scheduled to draw to a close in March of 2020, but as it did for so many of us, the onset of the Covid-19 Pandemic consumed the U.S. Public Health Service.

At a time when she could have deferred action to her successor, Captain Benitez-McCrary rallied the officers and resources of the USPHS and began deploying teams to the hardest-hit regions.  She was particularly instrumental directing the response to Native American communities and reservations, where healthcare resources are scarce in the best of times and which have been decimated by Covid-19.

Her pride in her Hispanic heritage has driven her to pursue numerous community service and outreach efforts both inside and outside of her professional life, including working with the U.S. Public Health Commissioned Officers Committee on Community Service on the rehabilitation of 97 homeless veterans at Maryland-based Baltimore Station Veterans Shelter and volunteering at nursing homes in the Maryland area.

The list of personal and professional accolades she’s accumulated is too long to do justice here, but suffice it say that Captain Benitez-McCrary has been awarded multiple Achievement and Outstanding Service awards from the Public Health Service to go along with her many Unit Commendations. She is also the author of numerous professional publications and been responsible for delivering many scientific presentations.

Today Captain Benitez-McCrary and her husband and fellow doctor, Victor – who spearheaded her nomination for this award – live in suburban Maryland and have two adult children.

As she looks back on her career at the USPHS, she can know that she exemplified the “absolute dedication…and commitment to optimal patient care in clinical duties and policy development” during her fruitful tenure.