Sylvia Trent-Adams

Sylvia Trent-Adams (born June 15, 1965) is a retired U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps rear admiral, who last served as the principal deputy assistant secretary for health from January 2, 2019 to August 31, 2020. She previously served as the deputy surgeon general of the United States from October 25, 2015 to January 2, 2019. Trent-Adams also served as the acting surgeon general of the United States from April 21, 2017 to September 5, 2017. She retired from the U.S. Public Health Service on September 30, 2020 after over 33 years of combined uniformed service.

On October 5, 2020, Trent-Adams was named to the board of directors for AMN Healthcare. May 19, 2022, Trent-Adams was named to the board of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). From 2020-2022, Trent-Adams served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC), Fort Worth, TX. In 2022 she became the President of UNTHSC, and during her tenure the university was awarded a $150 million grant to research Alzheimer’s disease, the largest grant in the UNT system’s history. Dr. Trent-Adams also oversaw the launch of a new College of Nursing at UNTHSC. She stepped down as President on January 31, 2025. The decision comes months after an NBC News investigation exposed the center’s practice of dissecting and leasing out unclaimed corpses without the consent of families or next of kin. NBC News reported in September that over five years, the Fort Worth-based center had acquired approximately 2,350 unclaimed bodies from local counties. This operation generated about $2.5 million annually. On July 14, Trent-Adams became President and CEO of IHI.

Education Trent-Adams received a Bachelor of Science in nursing from Hampton University, a Master of Science in nursing and health policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, and a doctorate of Philosophy in Public Policy from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. After attending college on an ROTC scholarship, she served as an officer in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps for five years, on the oncology unit of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Career Trent-Adams has held various positions in HHS, working to improve access to care for poor and under-served communities. As a clinician and administrator, she has had a direct impact on building systems of care to improve public health for marginalized populations.

Prior to joining the Office of the Surgeon General, Trent-Adams was the deputy associate administrator for the HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). She assisted in managing the $2.3 billion Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program) for uninsured people living with HIV disease as well as training for health care professionals.

Trent-Adams began her career in the Commissioned Corps of the PHSCC in 1992. In assuming the post, Trent-Adams became the second non-physician to serve as surgeon general. Robert A. Whitney, a veterinarian, served as the 17th (acting) surgeon general. She is the second nurse to serve in this role. Richard Carmona, who served in the role under George W. Bush, was both a nurse and a physician. She was succeeded by Vice Admiral Jerome Adams on September 5, 2017.

Awards and decorations

In 2017, she was awarded the Red Cross' Florence Nightingale Medal, the highest international distinction in the nursing profession.

Personal life Trent-Adams grew up on a farm in Concord, Virginia and graduated from Appomattox County High School in 1983. She is married to Dennis Adams and has two daughters.