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OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY FOR HEALTH
June 30, 2026
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Fellow Veterans Health Administration employees,
Today, I submitted to President Donald J. Trump and Secretary Douglas A. Collins my resignation as the tenth Under Secretary for Health, effective July 6, 2026. I did so with deep gratitude and a sense of accomplishment.
Federal service has been the defining thread of my life since I enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1984. Over more than 4 decades in active and reserve military positions -- and in numerous civilian and military roles across the Department of the Air Force, the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Management and Budget, Department of Veterans Affairs, and on Capitol Hill -- it has been my privilege to serve this country in ways I could not have imagined as a young Airman. That journey brought me to this Administration on the beachhead and landing teams in its earliest days, then as Senior Advisor to the Secretary, and ultimately, to my confirmation as Under Secretary for Health, leading the largest integrated health care system in the Nation on behalf of more than nine million Veterans.
I am proud of what we have accomplished together. The most vital resource we have within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is its people. It has been my honor to lead these professional civil servants. We successfully relaunched the Electronic Health Record Modernization program, putting it back on a credible path after years of uncertainty. It was an honor to deliver care to my Veteran brothers and sisters while designing and leading the largest reorganization of the VHA in over 30 years. The framework for this reorganization will better serve Veterans for decades to come. The VHA team has made meaningful improvements in patient wait times across the system, and we redesigned and released new Requests for Proposals for Community Care contracts, positioning VHA to deliver more responsive, more accountable care in partnership with the private sector. Plus, we have moved the President’s agenda forward to end homelessness for Veterans by setting the foundation for the National Center for Warrior Independence on the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center campus.
These were not small undertakings, and I am confident in the foundation we have built. Each of these initiatives is now on a strong and sustainable trajectory, carried forward by the talented team I have had the honor of leading. In the spirit of President George Washington upon his retirement from public life, I am persuaded that, with these initiatives now firmly on track, you will not disapprove my determination to retire from public service.
It has been the honor of my career to support the Nation’s Veterans. As I close this chapter, I look forward to focusing on my family and my health, and to continuing to support this Administration’s mission from the private sector.
Thank you for the trust you placed in me and the opportunity to have served alongside you.

John J. Bartrum, JD, MBA, Maj Gen (ret), USAF
Under Secretary for Health

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John Bartrum Resigns

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