John H. Armstrong, MD

John H. Armstrong, MD, is a national health leader, trauma surgeon and fourth-generation Army veteran who was reelected vice speaker of the American Medical Association House of Delegates (HOD) in June 2025. In this role he serves ex officio on the AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws and as liaison to the AMA Political Action Committee. He is a professor of surgery at the University of South Florida (USF) Morsani College of Medicine, Tampa, Fla., adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Md., and member of the Trauma Center Association of America board of directors. He served on the U.S. Defense Health Board for six years and chaired its Trauma and Injury Subcommittee.

Throughout his career Dr. Armstrong has been engaged in leadership at all levels of the AMA: he is a former young physician member of the AMA Board of Trustees and former AMA secretary; a former member of the AMA Council on Long Range Planning and Development; a former chair of both the House Compensation Committee and the AMA Young Physicians Section; and a former delegate, alternate delegate, or chair of a variety of delegations and caucuses in the HOD.

From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Armstrong served as Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of health: he led Florida’s $2.9 billion health agency with 15,000 public health professionals and 67 county health offices. With his leadership, Florida achieved the lowest infant mortality rate in its history, remained above the national average in life expectancy, and moved from 24th to 12th in healthy weight. He served as co-executive director of the Governor’s Commission on Healthcare and Hospital Funding and received the 2016 Florida Medical Association Distinguished Service Award.

Beyond state government, Dr. Armstrong’s experiences include serving as the first chief medical officer of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in Tampa, Fla., as trauma medical director at the University of Florida, Gainesville (covering 1.1 million people in 12 counties), and as director of the award-winning U.S. Army Trauma Training Center in Miami.

Dr. Armstrong graduated from Princeton University, the University of Virginia School of Medicine, and the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College. He performed his surgical residency at Tripler Army Medical Center in Honolulu, his trauma/surgical critical care fellowship at the University of Miami/Jackson Memorial Hospital, and his master educators in medical education fellowship at the University of Florida. A member of the ACS Academy of Master Surgeon Educators, Dr. Armstrong is a fellow of the ACS, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, the American Surgical Association, and the Southern Surgical Association. He has served as an ACS Committee on Trauma executive committee member, president of the Florida Chapter of the  ACS, and Florida governor to the ACS board of governors. In 2022 he was the ACS SurgeonsVoice Advocate of the Year.

Dr. Armstrong, who completed his Army career as a colonel in 2005, is a global leader in mass casualty readiness training and has served as co-editor of the in-person and electronic ACS Disaster Management and Emergency Preparedness courses. A recipient of the 2022 Distinguished Educator Award at the USF Morsani College of Medicine, he has served as a surgical critical care fellowship program director and AMA-nominated member of the ACGME Residency Review Committee for Surgery.

Dr. Armstrong’s wife, Jodie, is an ophthalmologist in private practice. Their son, Christopher, is an international graduate student.

2025–2026

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