Francisco T. Duque III was born on February 13, 1957 in Dagupan City, Pangasinan to former Secretary of Health and Pangasinan Governor Francisco Duque, Jr. and Florencia Tiongson.

He completed his medical education from the Pontifical and Royal University of Santo Tomas (UST) in 1982. In 1987, he earned a Master of Science degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He subsequently excelled in the Executive Education Program of the Harvard University School of Public Health in 1992.

In 2001, he was appointed as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) where he led the Corporation in enrolling the biggest ever number of indigent families at 6.2 million equivalent to 31.2 million beneficiaries, under the Plan 5 Million Indigent Program. This was a 255% increase over the enrollment of 2003. In 2005, he later became the Health Secretary from 2005 to 2010. For his government service and stewardship of the health sector, in 2004 he was honored by UST with The Outstanding Thomasian Alumnus Leadership (TOTAL) Award, and in 2007 by the UST College of Science with the Albertus Magnus Science Award.
Pangasinan State University conferred him the degree of Doctor of Humanities and Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) in 2006 and 2013, respectively. In November 2007, he earned from the University of Mindanao- a Doctor of Humanities degree. This recognition was anchored on breakthroughs made in health security.

In October 2009, his transparent and successful handling of public health challenges, as well as his excellent relations with the public and the media, earned him the Communication Excellence in Organizations Award (CEO EXCEL Award) by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), an independent organization composed of media and public relations experts.

His five-year stewardship of the Department of Health was marked by breakthroughs and milestones in public health care which earned high approval and satisfaction ratings (Pulse Asia and SWS ratings, 2005-2009), and for the country, a World Health Organization citation for being one of only three nations with excellent risk communication strategies against the AH1N1 pandemic.

Appointed in 2010 as Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, he lost no time in charting a brighter, better course for the bureaucracy. He was pivotal in developing the Commission’s Roadmap for Development and Reforms for 2010-2015, a five-year blueprint which spelled out the Commission’s priority programs for the country’s 1.4 million workforce.

As a milestone, he led the CSC towards achieving the highest ever public awareness, availment and satisfaction average rating of 98% among five (5) national government frontline service agencies in a Pulse Asia Survey conducted in the 4th Quarter of 2011, 1st Quarter of 2013 and 3rd Quarter of 2014.

In the adoption of the Performance Governance System (PGS), CSC has been awarded the Governance Trailblazer seal for four (4) times while successfully completing the four (4) stage process of PGS.In September 2014, he became the first government official to receive the People Manager of the Year in Public Sector (National Official Level) Award from the People Management Association of the Philippines (PMAP), recognizing his work as an HR and OD visionary, manager, strategic HR partner, and change champion.