Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Mary K. Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N.
Administrator, Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA)
E-mail: Administrator@hrsa.gov
Phone: (301) 443-2216
Mary Wakefield, Ph.D., R.N., was named administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) by President Barack Obama on February 20, 2009. HRSA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Wakefield joins HRSA from the University of North Dakota (UND), where she was associate dean for rural health at the School of Medicine and Health Sciences, a tenured professor, and director of the university's Center for Rural Health. Dr. Wakefield brings experience on Capitol Hill to her post at HRSA. In the 1990s, she served as chief of staff to two North Dakota senators: Kent Conrad (D) and Quentin Burdick (D). She also has served as director of the Center for Health Policy, Research and Ethics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., and worked on site as a consultant to the World Health Organization's Global Programme on AIDS in Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Wakefield is a fellow in the American Academy of Nursing and was elected to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies in 2004. She served on the IOM committee that produced the landmark reports To Err is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm. She also co-chaired the IOM committee that produced the report Health Professions Education, and chaired the committee that produced the report Quality through Collaboration: Health Care in Rural America.
Dr. Wakefield is a native of Devils Lake, N.D. She has a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Mary in Bismarck and master's and doctoral degrees in nursing from the University of Texas at Austin.
