On February 20 President Barack Obama announced his appointment of Mary Wakefield, PhD, RN, FAAN, to the position of administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). In this role Wakefield will oversee federal programs to increase health care access to underserved Americans and develop the health care workforce, including nursing. And she's well positioned to do so: from 2002 until last month she was director of the Center for Rural Health and led the Institute of Medicine's Committee on Health Care Quality for Rural America.
Wakefield, age 54, told AJN on the day her appointment was announced, that her new job would begin March 10, requiring a move to Washington, DC. "My husband and permanent home are staying right here in Grand Forks [North Dakota]. I'm considering it a long commute," she said.
President Obama said in a press release that under Wakefield's leadership HRSA will help "millions of uninsured Americans and address severe provider shortages across the country."