House Call
Philip P. Huang, MD, MPH
Snapshot
June 2019 Dallas Medical Journal 11
many young college students,
halfway through his civil engineering
studies, Dr. Huang realized that
he wanted to do something more
with people. Dr. Huang initially
wanted to follow in his father’s
footsteps as a civil engineer;
however, after speaking with premed
advisors at Rice University, he
decided to complete the academic
requirements for medical school in
addition to his coursework in civil
engineering, which he completed.
After graduating from Rice
University, Dr. Huang spent the
next four years at UT Southwestern
Medical School in Dallas, which
ultimately played a pivotal role in
his professional journey. With his
primary focus on family medicine,
during his last year at Southwestern,
he completed an international
rotation co-sponsored by Johns
Hopkins School of Public Health in
Nepal. This prolific expedition led
Dr. Huang and his peers through the
Himalayas, to a remote village, in
which he witnessed first-hand the
impact of international and public
health.
“The professor on the trip
suggested to me about obtaining
a master’s in public health,” he
says. “I then came back and
talked to my professor at UT
Southwestern in infectious disease
and we discussed the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
Their intelligence services and their
disease detectives are sent around
the world when something happens.
I kept all of these things in my mind
for residency; I have always been
interested in prevention.”
Dr. Huang then went on to
complete his master’s in public
health from Harvard University, with
a concentration in Health Policy and
Management.
From Austin to Dallas
“There are more disparities here
in Dallas than in Austin. With
extreme needs in both health and
socioeconomic disparities, we have
ften our career
paths lead us to unique, yet amazing
destinations. For many of us after
college graduation, we fervently
seek the “right” opportunity that
will accelerate our careers to fulfill
our personal goals of professional
satisfaction. Uncertain of the
outcome of each professional step,
our journey intrinsically aids as the
foundation for professional growth,
peer-to-peer relationships, but most
importantly, aligning our paths in
the pursuit of our professional wellbeing.
Methodically from adolescent
to adult, each day marks a
significant milestone in each chapter
of our lives. Essentially…leading us
right where we’re supposed to be,
which is Dallas for Dr. Phillip Huang.
From Engineering to Medicine
“Dallas wasn’t in the plan,” states Dr.
Huang, the new Director and Health
Authority for the Dallas County
Health and Human Services. Born
in New York City, Dr. Huang’s family
relocated to the Dallas area when
he was two years old. “It has been
great living back in Dallas; it has
made me realize how much Dallas is
home. My only regret is that I didn’t
make it back while my parents were
still alive. There is so much history
that I have grown up with. I have
pictures of me as a child feeding
the ducks at Turtle Creek, all of
the places that I would go with my
parents to eat, all of these reminders
of home,” Dr. Huang nostalgically
relates.
Spending his formative years
in Dallas, Dr. Huang graduated
from Lake Highlands High School
in Richardson ISD. With his mind
set on civil engineering, Dr. Huang
enrolled in Rice University. Like
a lot to do,” declares Dr. Huang.
Dallas currently is ranked second
in the state with one of the highest
HIV and AIDS infection rates. The
city now has a diagnosis of 31.7
per 100,000 people. “Nationally and
statewide we have seen an increase
in sexually transmitted infections.
When I was in Austin before I came
to Dallas, I was leading the effort for
the city’s Fast Track effort to address
the HIV epidemic. There is a lot of
community interest here and for us
(Dallas) to be the third community in
Texas to take that on. The President
(of the United States) also has a
budget proposed to fund this issue,”
he says.
5-Year Vision
“There is so much opportunity that
I see with the Dallas Public Health
Department, coming here from
Austin. Dallas has tremendous
resources—it is really fabulous in the
potential to put all of this together,”
he says. “I want to build out noncommunicable
disease capacity
for epidemiology, and have Prep
services, rapid start medications for
HIV.” DMJ
Dr. Huang is currently the Assistant
Professor with the University of Texas
at Austin, Dell Medical School and
Adjunct Assistant Professor with the
University of Texas School of Public
Health, Austin campus.
He served two years as Epidemic
Intelligence Service (EIS) officer with
the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention assigned to the Illinois
Department of Public Health where
he conducted epidemiologic studies in
chronic disease and infection disease
outbreak investigations.
Dr. Huang has served as principal
investigator for numerous CDC and
state-funded public health cooperative
agreements.
O