Tina Cheatham was named Senior Advisor to the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in March 2009. HRSA is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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 2009) to expand access to quality health care in partnership with health care providers and health professions training programs.

Cheatham came to HRSA in January 2000 to serve as Special Assistant to the Administrator. In that capacity, she provided leadership across HRSA and within HHS on outreach for the Children's Health Insurance Program. Cheatham also worked as Special Assistant in HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy where she coordinated the activities of more than 100 federal employees serving on the HHS Rural Task Force.

Since 2006, Cheatham has been Director of HRSA's Office of Communications where she oversaw the agency's national communications initiatives to inform and educate the public, health care professionals, policy makers and the media. Prior to this position, she was Director of HRSA's Division of Policy Review and Coordination where she coordinated all of the agency's written communications, regulations, and policy papers.

Prior to coming to HRSA, Cheatham worked to improve outreach for publicly funded health insurance programs, maternal and child health and services for people living with HIV/AIDS at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Dallas Regional Office. She learned firsthand about the real impact policy decisions can have upon people's lives during her eight years working in Social Security field offices in rural Arkansas and in Dallas. With the help of a laptop computer, she made Social Security services more accessible for homeless people and for people living with HIV.

Tina is a native of a small central Texas town and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication from Southwest Texas State University.

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