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Date: Tuesday, May 12, 1998 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: HRSA Press Office (301) 443-3376
HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala today announced the appointment of Claude Earl Fox, M.D., M.P.H., as administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, leading the nation's efforts to open access to health care for all Americans.
HRSA, with a $3.67 billion budget, expands access to care for poor, uninsured and isolated individuals and families through an array of grants to state and local governments, health care providers and health professions training programs. HRSA supports 607 community health centers; funds services for people living with HIV/AIDS through the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act; assists states and health care organizations improve services to mothers and children; oversees the national system that allocate organs, tissue and bone marrow for transplant; and works with academic health centers and other training programs to enhance the diversity and distribution of the nation's health care workforce.
"I'm pleased that the path Earl Fox started down as a rural public health doctor led him to HHS, to become one of our country's leading doctors," Secretary Shalala said. "Dr. Fox is motivated and prepared to keep pushing on the doors to health care, so that Americans can get the services they need to stay healthy, productive on the job and achieving in school."
Over the past year, as HRSA's acting administrator, Dr. Fox has been instrumental in many departmental initiatives, including the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to help extend coverage to children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance; the Presidential Initiative to Eliminate Racial Disparities in Health; and the development of Healthy People 2010, the nation's health agenda for the new millennium. Dr. Fox has been acting in the position since March 17, 1997.
Dr. Fox came to HRSA from the HHS Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, where he was deputy assistant secretary for health. He previously served as HHS regional health administrator, overseeing federal health and human service programs in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. He has also enjoyed a distinguished public health career at the state and local levels, including tenure as the state health officer in Alabama and deputy state health officer in Mississippi.
Born and reared in Charleston, Mississippi, Dr. Fox received his M.D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine in 1972. His first clinical experience was at a local health department in Charleston, a recipient of HRSA funds. He earned a master of public health degree at the University of North Carolina and served pediatric residencies at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. Dr. Fox is licensed to practice medicine in Maryland, is board certified in preventive medicine and public health, and board qualified in pediatrics.