President Barack Obama has officially announced his intent to nominate Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as Secretary of Health and Human Services. In this role, Sebelius will oversee a department with wide-ranging responsibilities, including the implementation of the President's vision for health care.

The President also announced that Nancy-Ann DeParle, one of the nation’s leading experts on health care and regulatory issues, will serve as Counselor to the President and Director of the White House Office for Health Reform. As Commissioner of the Department of Human Services in Tennessee, she saw firsthand the health care system’s impact on workers and families. In the Clinton Administration, DeParle handled budget matters for federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid.

Finally, Dr. Mary Wakefield has been named Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Dr. Wakefield assumed this position on March 10, leaving her position as Director of the Center for Rural Health at the University of North Dakota. HRSA will administer $2.5 billion allocated in the President’s Recovery Act to invest in the nation’s health care infrastructure and train health care professionals. Dr. Wakefield will serve as a keynote speaker at the AACOM Annual Meeting; see Annual Meeting item for more details.

For more information on these announcements, see the White House release and AACOM’s alert.