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Catherine Dodd Appointed HHS Region IX Director

HHS Secretary Donna E. Shalala has appointed Catherine Dodd R.N., M.S., as Regional Director of the Department of Health and Human Services for Region IX, which includes the states of Arizona, Nevada, California and Hawaii. Dodd fills the position left vacant in January by Grantland Johnson, who became the Secretary of Health and Human Services for California.

"Ms. Dodd has hands on health care experience and has been a strong advocate for improved access to health care through meaningful policy development," said Secretary Shalala. "We�re very pleased to have her join the department, as she brings with her both policy acumen and real world clinical experience."

Ms. Dodd is a registered nurse who has worked in the health policy arena at the local, state and national level for nearly a decade. Throughout her career Ms. Dodd has been an advocate for improved access to health prevention, screening and treatment across the age span. She has worked to improve access to prenatal care, immunization services, smoking cessation, substance abuse and treatment, adolescent risk prevention programs, domestic violence prevention, and senior independent living services.

Dodd�s clinical experiences include a firsthand understanding of the complex needs of the state�s migrant worker population, which she gained while working on a mobile health unit providing physical exams to farm workers throughout California. Through her work as a high-risk perinatal nurse, she has seen up close the effect of high infant mortality among inner city minority populations. As director of the Women�s Health Center at San Francisco General Hospital, she was instrumental in organizing a statewide effort to protect funding for family planning services and worked tirelessly to improve the health status of underserved women and their children.

In addition to her clinical experiences Ms. Dodd has a keen understanding of the managed care industry from an administrative and policy perspective.

Ms. Dodd has been active in the American Nurses Association and has taught "Health Policy and Politics" in the graduate program at San Francisco State University. She is also a well-known speaker on health systems, politics, women�s health, the feminization of poverty of older women, networking, and leadership. Her civic community involvement includes serving as a member of the Glider Foundation Board of Trustees with the Reverend Cecil Williams and Jan Mirikatani, and as a member of the Advisory Committee to the San Francisco Homeless Prenatal Project.

Dodd, a native of Oakland, Calif., is a 1979 graduate of the University of California, San Francisco, receiving her bachelor�s degree in 1979 and her master�s of science degree from the UCSF School of Nursing in 1983.

As one of 10 regional directors of Health and Human Services, Dodd serves as a key departmental official in working with other federal, state, local and elected officials on a wide range of health and social service issues.

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