RADM Kerry Paige Nesseler, M.S., R.N.
Assistant Surgeon General
Chief Nurse Officer, USPHS
Director, Office of Global Health Affairs
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
RADM Kerry Paige Nesseler was appointed director of the Office of Global Health Affairs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in May 2006. She was selected as the Chief Professional Officer for the Nurse Category effective 1 November 2009.
HRSA works to fill in the health care gaps for people who live outside the economic and medical mainstream. The agency uses its $7 billion annual budget (FY 2007) to expand access to quality health care for all Americans through an array of grants to state and local governments, health care providers and health professions training programs.
As director of the Office of Global Health Affairs, Nesseler develops strategies to maximize HRSA's participation in efforts to improve health care for vulnerable populations worldwide; she also coordinates and advances international health policy and resource development within HRSA. Additionally, Nesseler serves as a consultant to the HHS Office of the Secretary's Global Health Affairs, other HHS agencies, the World Health Organization and other international groups on a variety of health and nursing issues, including health professions training and Pacific Basin health care needs.
As Chief Nurse Officer for the United States Public Health Service (USPHS), RADM Nesseler is responsible for providing leadership and coordination of the Public Health Service (PHS) nursing professional affairs for the Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She will provide guidance and advice to the Surgeon General, the Nurse Professional Advisory Committee (N-PAC), and the Nation’s nursing community on matters such as prevention, primary care, health systems development, recruitment, retention, readiness and career development of PHS nurses.
RADM Nesseler served as associate administrator for HRSA's Bureau of Health Professions from July 2002 until her current appointment. She was deputy associate administrator for programs for HRSA's Maternal and Child Health Bureau from 2000 to 2002, and was a senior nurse consultant at MCHB from 1993-2000. From 1992-1993, RADM Nesseler was a nurse epidemiologist with the Atlanta Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and first worked with HRSA from 1990-1992 as a senior project officer/nurse consultant in the Bureau of Primary Health Care with the Atlanta Regional Office. She began her PHS career with the Indian Health Service in 1986 at the Fond du Lac Indian Reservation, located in Cloquet, Minnesota, as a Maternal Child Health Nurse Specialist. For her service, she was awarded the first Lucille Woodville Memorial Award.
RADM Nesseler received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of San Francisco and a master of science in nursing from the University of Hawaii. She holds the rank of Rear Admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
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