Biosketch:
Dr. Sharfstein is the Commissioner of Health in Baltimore City. Before assuming this position in December 2005, Dr. Sharfstein served on the minority staff of the Government Reform Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives, working for Congressman Henry A. Waxman. He conducted investigative oversight, drafted legislation, and helped set political strategy on public health and medical issues, including tobacco control, public health preparedness, HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, substance abuse, food safety, prescription drug regulation and mental health.

After graduating summa cum laude from Harvard College in 1991, Dr. Sharfstein spent a year working on public health projects in Central America from 1991-1992 before entering medical school. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1996. He then completed residency training in pediatrics at Boston Medical Center and Boston Children's Hospital in 1999, where he was a co-founder of a national initiative to call attention to the impact of housing conditions on child health. From July 1999 to June 2001, he completed a fellowship in general academic pediatrics at the Boston University School of Medicine. During this time, he worked at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the World Health Organization. Dr. Sharfstein has co-authored research articles in the New England Journal of Medicine, American Journal of Public Health, Public Health Reports, and British Medical Journal. He has also written articles for the Boston Globe, New Republic, American Prospect, and Washington Monthly.

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