Administrator
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Biography
Thomas Engels is the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). HRSA is the primary federal agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services responsible for improving access to health care for people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable.
As the Administrator, Mr. Engels oversees HRSA’s efforts to expand access to quality health care through grants awarded to state and local governments, providers of health profession training programs.
Under Mr. Engels' leadership, HRSA serves more than 31 million people through 1,400 health centers - an essential component of America’s health care safety net– with 15,000 sites in underserved and rural communities that provide primary care services regardless of patients’ ability to pay. Health centers are providing substance use disorder services–behavioral health–in steadily increasing numbers.
Toward that end, the agency continues to grow the behavioral health workforce and recruit providers to underserved and rural communities by investing in growing the National Health Service Corps, which provides loan repayment and scholarships to providers in return for practicing in these high-need communities.
In keeping with its mission, HRSA programs reach more than 60 million pregnant women, infants, and children; more than 560,000 people with HIV; more than 1,900 rural counties and municipalities; and more than 21,000 clinicians in the National Health Service Corps and Nurse Corps and other programs who provide medical, dental and mental health services to over 22 million Americans.
Mr. Engels is the first person to be twice appointed HRSA Administrator by a U.S. President serving nonconsecutive terms.
Mr. Engels was HRSA Administrator from November 2019 until January 2021.
During his initial tenure as administrator, Mr. Engels oversaw programs to address the opioid epidemic through the integration of behavioral health into primary care and HIV care settings. He also directed the management of the historic $175 billion COVID-19 Provider Relief Fund, which provided relief and assistance to hospitals and other health care professionals on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Additionally, he completed the most significant reorganization of the agency in its 40-year history. Mr. Engels also served on the White House Coronavirus Task Force.
Prior to first joining HRSA, Mr. Engels was Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health Services from 2015 to 2019, managing a department with more than 6,000 employees and a $12 billion budget. In that role, he championed and oversaw the expansion of the state’s mental health services, the establishment of a statewide electronic health record system and an increase in staffing at long-term care facilities. He was also an active member of the Governor’s Task Force on Opioid Abuse.
Formerly Vice President of Public Affairs at the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, Mr. Engels also served as the Government Affairs Director for the Wisconsin State Telecommunications Association, and previously held public service positions working as Governor Tommy Thompson’s Deputy Press Secretary and Communications Director for the Senate Republican Caucus.
More recently, he was elected as Sergeant-At-Arms by the Wisconsin State Senate in 2021 and re-elected in 2023 and 2025. The Wisconsin State Sergeant-At-Arms is a nonpartisan constitutional officer.
He also is a certified emergency medical technician, and for many years a volunteer firefighter.
Mr. Engels is a native of Wisconsin and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.