WASHINGTON – With Tom Price’s resignation Friday as Health and Human Services secretary, the job of running the department falls to Don Wright, whom President Trump has named acting secretary.

So who is Don Wright?

Wright is a family medicine physician who embarked on a career in the federal government 14 years ago under then-President George W. Bush and has held a number of senior executive roles.

Wright, whose appointment became effective at 11:59 p.m. Friday, has worked at Health and Human Services for 10 years. Since February, he has been the department’s acting assistant secretary.

Wright’s public service career has focused broadly on public health, occupational health and health policy, as well as health care quality, disease prevention and health promotion, according to his LinkedIn biography.

Before he became acting assistant secretary, Wright worked as the deputy assistant secretary for health and director of the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.

His career highlights, according to his LinkedIn biography, include developing and implementing a national plan to reduce health care associated infections; creating a system “of measurable performance measures” for 13 program offices and 10 regional health offices; and providing research misconduct oversight for a $30 billion research portfolio funded by the federal government.

Bush chose him to represent the United States as the alternate delegate at the World Health Organization’s Executive Board. He also served on the National Cancer Institute Advisory Board.

From 2003 to 2007, Wright worked in the Labor Department as director of the Office of Occupational Medicine for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

More:HHS Secretary Tom Price resigns in wake of travel spending scandal

More:HHS Secretary Tom Price apologizes for chartered flights, says he'll pay for them

More:New stock questions plague HHS nominee Tom Price as confirmation vote nears

Before he entered the federal workforce, Wright worked for 17 years as a clinician in Texas in the areas of family medicine and occupational health.

He earned an undergraduate degree in zoology and animal biology at the Texas Tech University, a medical degree in family medicine at The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and a master’s degree in public health at the Medical College of Wisconsin. He completed his family medicine residency training at Baylor College of Medicine.

He is board certified in the areas of family medicine and preventive medicine.

Price resigned as Health and Human Services secretary Friday after days of criticism from Trump over Price's use of private airplanes.

In his resignation letter, Price told Trump that he regrets how "recent events have created a distraction" from the president's agenda, including unsuccessful efforts to repeal and replace President Obama's health care law.