Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony Principi has announced that a 10-member commission will recommend to President Bush candidates for undersecretary for health within the department. The appointee is subject to confirmation by the Senate.
"We are seeking a proven physician-leader with strong managerial and clinical skills, plus a firm commitment to veterans," Principi said in a news release.
The commission is to report three recommended candidates to Principi by the end of July. Principi will forward the list with any comments to the President. The four-year position is subject to Senate confirmation.
The job entails directing nearly 200,000 full- and part-time employees at more than 1,300 U.S. care sites to provide care for 5 million veterans.
Commission members are: Chairperson Gordon Mansfield, deputy secretary, Department of Veterans Affairs; Linda Burnes Bolton, chair, National Commission on VA Nursing, Los Angeles; William Galey, M.D., former director, Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Integrated Service Network, Portland, Ore.; David Gorman, executive director, Disabled American Veterans, Washington, D.C.; Kenneth Kizer, M.D., former undersecretary for health, Washington, D.C.; George Thibault, M.D., chairman, special medical advisory group, Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston; David Tornberg, M.D., deputy assistant secretary of defense for clinical and program policy, Department of Defense, Falls Church, Va.; Sister Patricia Vandenberg, eastern U.S. area coordinator, Sisters of the Holy Cross, Silver Spring, Md.; Robert Wallace, executive director, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Washington, D.C.; and Al Zamberlan, former Department of Veterans Affairs regional director and medical center director, Ann Arbor, Mich. Commission executive secretary is Thomas Hogan, VA deputy assistant secretary for human resources.