Acting Associate Administrator for Health Workforce
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Dr. Candice Chen is the acting associate administrator of the Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). BHW’s mission is to improve the health of people by strengthening the health workforce and connecting skilled health care providers to communities in need.

BHW administers over 70 workforce programs with a budget of more than $1.8 billion, with the goal of improving access to quality health care by developing, distributing, and retaining a diverse and culturally competent health workforce. BHW supports the health workforce across the entire education and training to service continuum.

Dr. Chen is rejoining HRSA, having served as the BHW director of the Division of Medicine and Dentistry from 2014 to 2018. From 2018 to 2024, she was an associate professor of health policy and management at the Fitzhugh Mullan Institute for Health Workforce Equity at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health. Her work focused on primary care, health workforce for underserved communities, and health professions education research and policy.

Dr. Chen received her medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine, completed her pediatrics residency and community pediatrics fellowship at Children’s National Hospital, and her master’s in public health at the George Washington University. She is a board-certified pediatrician and has continued to practice primary care in Southeast Washington, DC through her career.