Feb 20, 2009 4:18 pm US/Eastern
Obama Names Rural Health Expert Head Of Clinics
WASHINGTON (AP) ―
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The White House said Wakefield will lead the Health Resources and Services Administration, a small agency with an important public health mission.
Pete Souza /AP
President Barack Obama on Friday named a North Dakota nurse and expert on rural health to run the government's community clinics program.
Mary Wakefield, who started in nursing and became a health policy expert, now directs the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. The White House said she will lead the Health Resources and Services Administration, a small agency with an important public health mission.
Known as HRSA, the agency oversees some 7,000 community clinics that serve low-income and uninsured people. It also runs the government's Ryan White HIV/AIDS program, providing medical care and medications for 530,000 low-income patients. The recently passed economic stimulus bill gives HRSA $2.5 billion to spend for improvements to health care facilities and training medical professionals.
"Under her leadership we will be able to expand and improve the care provided at the community health centers, which serve millions of uninsured Americans, and address severe provider shortages across the country," Obama said in a statement.
Community health centers are sometimes the only doctors' offices in depressed inner city neighborhoods and rural communities. Their patients are usually low-income people, often uninsured. The centers provide basic medical care, keeping children with colds from ending up in the emergency room, and helping patients with chronic conditions to stay healthy.
Wakefield is familiar with Washington, having served as a top staff aide for two North Dakota senators. Her deep experience in health care policy includes a stint overseas as a consultant to the World Health Organization's global AIDS program.
Conrad said that Wakefield has "the background and expertise to make a real difference in our nation's health care policy."
HRSA is part of the Health and Human Services department, which has been leaderless since Tom Daschle, Obama's first choice for secretary, was forced to withdraw his nomination because of tax problems. Other major posts in the department, including the heads of Medicare and the Food and Drug Administration, remain unfilled.
Obama is expected to move quickly to nominate an HHS secretary. A senior administration official has told The Associated Press that Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius is near the top of the list of candidates.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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