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 2026. In this role he serves as chair of the AMA Board of Trustees (BOT) Awards and Nominations Committee, ex officio member of the AMA Council on Constitution and Bylaws, and 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; adjunct professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda; member of the Trauma Center Association of America board of directors; and chair of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) committee on surgical skills for practicing surgeons. He served on the U.S. Defense Health Board for six years and chaired its Trauma and Injury Subcommittee.

Dr. Armstrong has engaged in leadership at all levels of the AMA. He served as a young physician member of the AMA-BOT; AMA secretary; a member of the AMA Council on Long Range Planning and Development; chair of both the House Compensation Committee and the AMA Young Physicians Section; and delegate, alternate delegate, or chair of a variety of delegations and caucuses in the AMA-HOD.

From 2012 to 2016, Dr. Armstrong served as Florida’s surgeon general and secretary of health, where 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 improved from 24th to 12th among states 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.

Dr. Armstrong served as the first chief medical officer of the USF Health Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation in Tampa; trauma medical director at the University of Florida, Gainesville (covering 1.1 million people in 12 counties); and 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, ACS Florida Chapter president, and ACS Florida governor. 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 and has served as co-editor of 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.

2026-2027

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