Press Release - President Obama Announces More Key Administration Posts

WASHINGTON – Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

•      Roberta Achtenberg, Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights

•      Marty R. Castro, Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights

•      JudyAnn Bigby, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Valerie Brown, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Jonathan Fielding, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Ned Helms, Jr., Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Charlotte Kerr, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Jeffrey Levi, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Vivek Murthy, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Barbara Otto, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Linda Rosenstock, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      John Seffrin, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Susan Swider, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Sharon Van Horn, Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

•      Lisa Randall, Member, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science

President Obama said, "Our nation will be greatly served by the talent and expertise these individuals bring to their new roles. I am grateful they have agreed to serve in this Administration, and I look forward to working with them in the months and years ahead."

President Obama announced his intent to appoint the following individuals to key Administration posts:

Roberta Achtenberg, Appointee for Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights

Roberta Achtenberg is a corporate advisor in economic and workforce development policy, with more than 30 years of senior-level leadership experience in business, government and law. Ms. Achtenberg also held senior-policy making roles with the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce and the San Francisco Center for Economic Development from 1997 to 2004. During the Clinton Administration, she served as Assistant Secretary for Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and later as Senior Advisor to the Secretary of HUD. She is currently a member and past Chair of the California State University Board of Trustees and serves as Vice Chair of the Board of the Bank of San Francisco. Previously, Ms. Achtenberg was a member of the Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco and represented San Francisco as a Director of the Bay Area Air Quality Management District. Before becoming a public official, she worked for more than 15 years as a civil rights attorney, nonprofit director and legal educator. Ms. Achtenberg is the co-founder of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, a national nonprofit serving the needs of the LGBT community. She holds a B.A. from the University of California at Berkeley and a J.D. from the University of Utah.

Marty R. Castro, Appointee for Commissioner, United States Commission on Civil Rights

Marty Castro is currently the President of Castro Synergies, LLC, which provides strategic consulting services to corporations, entrepreneurs and non-profit organizations. Prior to founding his consulting company, Mr. Castro was Vice President of External Affairs, Head of Strategic Business Development at Aetna, Inc. in Chicago. He also held partner positions at Sonnenschein, Nath & Rosenthal, LLP, Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, Baker & McKenzie, and Castro, Gomez, Durbin & De Jesus, LLC, where his work included corporate law, commercial litigation, diversity consulting and government affairs. In 2009, Mr. Castro was appointed by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn to chair the Illinois Human Rights Commission. He also served as chair of the Judicial Nominations Commission for the Northern District of Illinois. Mr. Castro has been a member of various humanitarian, philanthropic and civil rights boards, including the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Chicago Area Foundation for Legal Services, Cook County State's Attorney's Hispanic Advisory Council, the Executive Committee of the Chicago Community Trust, the Hispanic Lawyers' Scholarship Fund of Illinois, and the National Museum of Mexican Art. Mr. Castro holds a B.A. from DePaul University and a J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School.

JudyAnn Bigby, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

JudyAnn Bigby is currently the Secretary of Health and Human Services for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, where she oversees 16 agencies including the state's Medicaid program and was responsible for implementing many of the features of the 2006 Massachusetts health reform law. Prior to her appointment as Secretary in 2007, Dr. Bigby served as a primary care physician and Director of Community Health Programs at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. She also served as an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where she was Director of the Harvard Medical School Center of Excellence in Women's Health. Dr. Bigby is currently a member of the Board of Directors of the National Quality Forum. She holds a B.A. from Wellesley College and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.

Valerie Brown, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Valerie Brown was appointed by the Governor of California to serve as First District County Supervisor for the County of Sonoma in 2002 and was elected to that position in 2004 and 2008. In her role as County Supervisor, Ms. Brown oversees all county departments and initiatives involving water management, transportation, mass transit and rail, economic development, environmental protection and health services. She recently launched the nationally-acclaimed Network of Care for Healthy Communities Project, an innovative local delivery web portal that provides the public, healthcare providers, local government leaders, and community organizations with easy-to-find resources and understandable key data. Prior to her appointment, Ms. Brown served as a City Council member and Mayor for the City of Sonoma, California, and was an elected official in the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1998. She is an active member of the U.S. National Association of Counties, having served as Vice President in 2006 and as President in 2009. In 2010, Ms. Brown was selected as County Official of the Year by Public CEO and Leader of the Year by California Women Lead. She holds a B.S. in Education from the University of Missouri, and an M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Lindenwood College in Missouri.

Jonathan Fielding, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Jonathan E. Fielding currently serves as Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health and County Health Officer, where he leads the nation's largest county public health department and manages the county's environmental health, communicable and chronic disease control, emergency preparedness and response, and health education initiatives, among others. Dr. Fielding is also Professor of Health Services and Pediatrics at UCLA and Vice Chair of the Los Angeles First 5 Commission, which works to improve children's health, safety and school readiness. He previously served as Massachusetts Commissioner of Public Health and as President of the American College of Preventive Medicine. Dr. Fielding is a founding member of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force and Chair of the U.S. Community Preventive Services Task Force. He is also Chair of the Partnership for Prevention and the Advisory Committee on the 2020 Health Objectives for the Nation created by Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. Dr. Fielding is a Board Member of the American Legacy Foundation, an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences Institute of Medicine, and Editor of the Annual Review of Public Health. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sedgwick Memorial for Distinguished Public Health and the Roemer Award for creative public health practice, both from the American Public Health Association. Dr. Fielding holds a B.A. from Williams College, an M.A. from Harvard University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, an M.P.H. from the Harvard School of Public Health, and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business.

Ned Helms, Jr., Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Ned Helms currently serves as Director of the New Hampshire Institute for Health Policy and Practice at the University of New Hampshire, a position he has held since February of 2001 when he became its founding director. Mr. Helms oversees the Institute's research efforts to improve population health and provide technical assistance to State and Health Care agencies in order to enhance their health care delivery systems. Over the past 30 years, he has focused on health policy and held key roles in public and private entities, including Chief Administrative Office of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of New Hampshire, founder and President of Helms & Company (a health policy consulting firm), Commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services for New Hampshire, as well as Executive Assistant to the Office of the Governor for Health Policy in New Hampshire. Earlier in his career, Mr. Helms served as Legislative and Administrative Assistant for Health Policy in the U.S. Senate. He holds a B.A. from Drew University and an M.A. from the University of New Hampshire.

Charlotte Kerr, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Sister Charlotte Rose Kerr is a practitioner of traditional acupuncture, a healthcare consultant and a faculty member of the Tai Sophia Institute. Prior to joining the Tai Sophia Institute, Sister Charlotte Kerr was an Assistant Professor of Nursing at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. She has served on various education and health-related boards, including the Center for Talented Youth at Johns Hopkins University, the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, and the Advisory Council of the National Institutes of Health Alternative Medicine Program, among others. In 2002, Sister Charlotte Kerr was identified as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women by The Daily Record, a statewide daily business newspaper. She holds an R.N. from St. Joseph's Infirmary in Atlanta, a B.S.N. from the University of Maryland School of Nursing, an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina, and an M.Ac. from the College of Traditional Acupuncture in England.

Jeffrey Levi, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Jeffrey Levi is currently Executive Director of Trust for America's Health (TFAH), a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to making disease prevention a national priority. As Executive Director of TFAH, Dr. Levi leads the organization's efforts to advance a modernized public health system. He is also a Professor of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services, where he teaches courses in health policy and has conducted research on HIV/AIDS, Medicaid, integrating public health, and the healthcare delivery system. Prior to joining academia, Dr. Levi was Deputy Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (1994-1996). Previously, he served as an associate editor of the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Levi has been engaged in HIV policy work since the beginning of the epidemic and is widely recognized as a leading national advocate for gay-lesbian and HIV-related issues. He holds a B.A. from Oberlin College, an M.A. from Cornell University, and a Ph.D. from The George Washington University.

Elizabeth Mayer-Davis, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Elizabeth Mayer-Davis is currently Professor of Nutrition in the Gillings School of Global Public Health and Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. From 1997 to 2008, Dr. Mayer-Davis was Professor of Epidemiology at the University of South Carolina and Associate Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics. During her tenure at the University of South Carolina, she played a key role in developing the Center for Research in Nutrition and Health Disparities and served as the Center's Director. Prior to that, Dr. Mayer-Davis was on the faculty of Wake Forest University. Throughout her career, she has conducted research on prevention and treatment of diabetes and other obesity-related conditions in children and adults. Dr. Mayer-Davis currently serves as the President of Health Care and Education for the American Diabetes Association. She holds a B.S. in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Tennessee, an M.S. in public health from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. in epidemiology from the University of California at Berkeley.

Vivek Murthy, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Vivek H. Murthy is an attending physician at Brigham and Women's Hospital and an instructor at Harvard Medical School, where he is an internal medicine hospitalist. Dr. Murthy is co-founder and President of Doctors for America, a grassroots organization of over 15,000 doctors and medical students in 50 states who are working to build a better health care system for all Americans. He is also the co-founder and Chairman of Epernicus, LLC, a privately-held company that builds social networking platforms for scientific institutions and clinical trials. Dr. Murthy has lectured widely on health care reform and physician advocacy. His writings and research have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Science, the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, and The Washington Post. Dr. Murthy received a B.A. from Harvard University, an M.D. from the Yale School of Medicine, and an M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management.

Barbara Otto, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Barbara Otto is currently the CEO and former Executive Director of Health & Disability Advocates (HDA), a national policy and advocacy organization centered on providing health care and employment-related services to people with disabilities. Ms. Otto is responsible for providing policy analysis and direction in the areas of Medicaid and Medicare as well as other public benefits programs for older adults, children and adults with disabilities. She is also a principal in the National Consortium for Health Systems Development, a state to state technical assistance center, where she focuses on the intersection of health and employment policy. Ms. Otto has over 20 years of experience working on health care reform and women's issues in the workplace. She previously served as Adjunct Faculty in the Employment & Disability Institute of Cornell University and has been a consultant for Virginia Commonwealth University, among other organizations. Ms. Otto is a member of the National Academy of Social Insurance, and is an author of several publications including the No Nonsense Guide Series on Employment & Disability. She holds a B.A. degree from Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Linda Rosenstock, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Linda Rosenstock is currently Dean of the School of Public Health and a Professor of Medicine and Environmental Health Sciences at UCLA. Dr. Rosenstock is a recognized authority in occupational and environmental health, and in the fields of public health and science policy. From 1994 to 2000, she served as the Director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), where she was instrumental in creating the National Occupational Research Agenda, a framework for guiding occupational safety and health research. In recognition of her efforts, Dr. Rosenstock received the Presidential Distinguished Executive Rank Award, the highest executive service award in the government. Prior to this appointment, she was a faculty member in Departments of Medicine and Environmental Health at the University of Washington. Dr. Rosenstock has held leadership roles in, and served on the boards of, various organizations, including the World Health Organization, the United Auto Workers/General Motors Occupational Health Advisory Board, the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine, the Association of Schools of Public Health, and the Society of Medical Administrators, among others. She has also been active in teaching and research in many developing countries and is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. Dr. Rosenstock holds an A.B. from Brandeis University, and an M.D. and an M.P.H. from The Johns Hopkins University.

John Seffrin, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

John R. Seffrin is the chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society. Dr. Seffrin also serves as an adjunct professor of behavioral science and health education at the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health. Prior to being named the American Cancer Society's top executive, he served at Indiana University as Professor of Health Education and Chairman of the Department of Applied Health Science. Dr. Seffrin has been active in numerous organizations, including the Advisory Committee to the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Geneva-headquartered Union for International Cancer Control, and the Board of Independent Sector, among others. In 1999, he was selected to be a charter member of C-Change (formerly known as the National Dialogue on Cancer) Steering Committee, which was co-chaired by former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush. Also in the late 1990s, Dr. Seffrin served on the board of National Cancer Policy Board of the Institute of Medicine and was appointed by Senator Dianne Feinstein to co-chair the National Cancer Legislation Advisory Committee. He helped to create the National Center for Tobacco-Free Kids (now the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids), among his many collaborations and affiliations. Dr. Seffrin is the 2010 recipient of the Society for Public Health Education's Elizabeth Fries Health Education Award. He holds a B.S. degree from Ball State University, an M.S. from the University of Illinois, and a Ph.D. in health education from Purdue University.

Susan Swider, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Susan Swider is currently a Professor in the College of Nursing at the Rush University Medical Center, an academic health sciences center in Chicago. Prior to joining Rush University, Dr. Swider served on the faculty of the School of Nursing at St. Xavier University and in the College of Nursing of the University of Illinois. Over the past twenty years, her research has focused on program development and evaluation of community health workers, and on engaging urban communities in health promotion. From 1992 to 2009, Dr. Swider served on the Board of Directors for the Erie Family Health Center, a Federally-qualified health center, and was a Kellogg International Leadership Program Fellow from 1995 to 1998. She has also been a member of numerous professional organizations in public health and nursing, including the American Public Health Association, the Institute of Medicine of Chicago, and the Association of Community Health Nursing Educators, where she serves as president. Dr. Swider holds a B.S. in Nursing from De Paul University, an M.S. in Public Health Nursing and a Ph.D. in Nursing Science from the University of Illinois.

Sharon Van Horn, Appointee for Member, Advisory Group on Prevention, Health Promotion, and Integrative and Public Health

Sharon Van Horn is a pediatrician with a longstanding interest in the prevention of childhood and adolescent health and behavioral problems. In 2009, she completed a Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona, where she focused on prevention and integrative health issues. Prior to that, Dr. Van Horn was a pediatrician at Chapel Hill Pediatrics and has served as an Adjunct Faculty in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also worked as a consultant for Healthy E Me, Inc., a company that uses technology and behavior modification to treat obesity via email and text messaging. Dr. Van Horn holds a B.A. from Kansas Newman College, an M.D. from the University of Kansas, School of Medicine, and an M.P.H. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Lisa Randall, Appointee for Member, President's Committee on the National Medal of Science

Lisa Randall is the Frank B. Baird, Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. Professor Randall is one of the most cited and influential theoretical physicists today. Her research concerns elementary particles and fundamental forces and has involved the development and study of a wide variety of models, among them those involving extra dimensions of space. Her current research also centers on theoretical implications of experiments at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN as well as those of searches for dark matter. Professor Randall has also written a book about these topics entitled Warped Passages that was included in the New York Times' "Most Influential Books of 2005." She was among Time Magazine's "100 Most Influential People" of 2007. Professor Randall is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She earned both her B.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard.