Biden Appoints Nurse to COVID-19 Advisory Board
Shortly after declaring victory in the 2020 president election, the Biden-Harris transition team created a bipartisan COVID-19 advisory board (https://buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases/biden-harris-transition-announces-covid-19-advisory-board/). Staffed by experts, the board was hailed as a science-driven committee eager to flatten the curve. However, it had one downfall: it lacked a nurse (https://www.change.org/p/president-elect-joe-biden-biden-transition-team). In response to a viral petition (https://nurse.org/articles/biden-covid-task-force-needs-nurses/) for nurse representation, the transition team appointed Seattle, WA, nurse Jane Hopkins, RNMH, to the advisory board on November 28, 2020.
Hopkins specializes (https://buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases/biden-harris-transition-announces-covid-19-advisory-board-members/) in mental health and is a member of Washington State’s COVID-19 task force and Safe Start Advisory Board. She has more than 20 years of bedside experience.
The Biden-Harris transition team also appointed (https://buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases/biden-harris-transition-announces-covid-19-advisory-board-members/) Jill Jim, PhD, MPH, MPA, executive director at Navajo Nation Department of Health, and David Michaels, PhD, MPH, epidemiologist and professor of environmental and occupational health at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University, to the COVID-19 advisory board.
“As COVID-19 surges across the country, I need a team advising me and a transition that offers diverse perspectives and viewpoints,” Biden said (https://buildbackbetter.gov/press-releases/biden-harris-transition-announces-covid-19-advisory-board-members/). “Ms. Hopkins, Dr. Jim, and Dr. Michaels will strengthen the board’s work and help ensure that our COVID-19 planning will address inequities in health outcomes and the workforce.”