Merle Bari VA Secretary David Shulkin’s Wife

Merle Bari

Merle Bari is the longtime wife of US Secretary of Veterans Affair, David Shulkin –who was named to lead the agency last year by President Trump.

Merle’s husband was previously an undersecretary at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Shulkin is a board-certified internist who received his medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania, and he completed his internship at Yale University School of Medicine and a residency and fellowship in General Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh Presbyterian Medical Center.

Dr. Shulkin is also a fellow of the American College of Physicians. Prior to his service with VA, Dr. Shulkin held numerous chief executive roles at Morristown Medical Center, and the Atlantic Health System Accountable Care Organization. He also served as President and CEO of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City and is a former Chief Medical Officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, Temple University Hospital, and the Medical College of Pennsylvania Hospital.

Sulkin an Illinois native, became last year, the first VA secretary not to have served in the military. Both of his grandfather’s fought in World War I and his father was an Army psychiatrist.

His wife, Merle Bari is also an MD. She is a dermatologist who met him while doing his residency at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Bari is a dermatologist with offices in the Greater Philadelphia area, in Gladwyne, Conshohocken and Roxborough. According to her website, Merle Bari graduated Cum Laude from Bryn Mawr College. Dr. Bari graduated from the Drexel University School of medicine and completed her internship in general internal medicine at the University of Connecticut and residency training at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center in dermatology, serving as Chief Resident in her final year.

She and Shulkin have been married for over three decades. The Philadelphia native is also the mother of the couple’s two adult children, Jennie and Daniel Shulkin -who is also involved in healthcare administration.

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Her daughter Jen Shulkin was a nationally ranked tennis and squash player, as well as a college squash player at Penn. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as a double major in Communication & Public Service, and Sociology. And is currently a Harvard Law student.