Health Official Says Disparities Demand Attention

In Washington, D.C., Howard Koh, MD, was known simply as “the ASH,” an acronym for his full title, assistant secretary for health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. But for a physician who had devoted his career to battling tobacco use, to suddenly be known as the ASH — even though the title connoted respect and authority — was a bit of a struggle, a smiling Koh told attendees at a recent Stanford Health Policy Forum.