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The Honorable Donna M. Christensen is serving her eighth term as
a Member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing the
U.S. Virgin Islands. She is the first female physician in the
history of the U.S. Congress, the first woman to represent an
offshore Territory, and the first woman Delegate from the United
States Virgin Islands. She serves as an Assistant Minority Whip
in the Democratic Caucus.
In the 112th Congress, Delegate Christensen serves on the
following House Committees, Subcommittees and Caucuses: She is a
Member of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and its
Subcommittees on Oversight and Communications and Technology.
Congresswoman Christensen was the first Delegate to Congress in
history to serve on the exclusive Energy and Commerce Committee,
which she first did in the 111th Congress. The Energy and
Commerce Committee covers a wide range of issues to include
health, energy independence, climate change, telecommunications,
broadband and commercial and consumer issues with oversight over
many federal departments and agencies to include the departments
of Energy, Health and Human Services, Commerce, as well as the
Environmental Protection Agency, the Federal Trade Commission,
the Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Communications
Commission.
The Subcommittee on Oversight is responsible for agencies,
departments, and programs within the jurisdiction of the full
committee and for conducting investigations within such
jurisdiction. The Subcommittee on Communications and
Technology is responsible for interstate and foreign
telecommunications including but not limited to all
telecommunication and information transmission by internet,
broadband, broadcast, radio, wire, microwave, satellite or other
modes.
Although she is no longer a Member, Congresswoman Christensen
closely monitors the activities of the House Committee on
Natural Resources, where she served for 14 years and where she
served as both Chair and Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on
Insular Affairs, Oceans and Wildlife in previous Congresses.
The Subcommittee on Insular Affairs has jurisdiction over the
affairs of the offshore territories, to include the U.S. Virgin
Islands, which she represents in the Congress.
Delegate Christensen is the First Vice-chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus and chairs the Congressional Black
Caucus’ Health Braintrust, which oversees and advocates minority
health issues nationally and internationally. She is a Member of
the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues; Member of the
Steering Committee of the Congressional Travel and Tourism
Caucus; Member of the Progressive Caucus; Member of the
Congressional Rural Caucus; Member of the Friends of the
Caribbean Caucus; Member of the Coastal Caucus; Member of the
Coast Guard Caucus, Member of the Congressional Fire Caucus and
a Member of the Congressional National Guard and Reserve Caucus.
She was born in 1945 to the late Judge Almeric Christian and
Virginia Sterling Christian. She earned a Bachelor of
Science in 1966 at St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana.
She earned an M.D. (Doctor of Medicine) in 1970 from the George
Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.
She interned at Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco,
California from 1970 to 1971 and did her residency in family
medicine at Howard University Medical Center from 1973 to 1974.
She became a board certified physician in 1977.
Christensen began her medical career in the Virgin Islands in
1975 as an emergency room physician. She served as staff
physician at the Maternal & Child Health program, Medical
Director of the Nesbitt Clinic in Frederiksted, Director of the
Frederiksted Health Center, Director of Maternal and Child
Health and Family Planning, served as the Medical Director of
the St. Croix Hospital and rounded out her medical career as the
Territorial Assistant Commissioner of Health and as the Acting
Commissioner of Health. She maintained a private practice
in family medicine from 1975 until her election to Congress in
1996.
As a registered member of the Democratic Party of the Virgin
Islands , she has served as Democratic National Committeewoman,
member of the Democratic Territorial Committee, Delegate to
Democratic Conventions from 1984 to present, Member, Platform
Committee of the Democratic National Committee from 1988 to
present. She was elected to the Virgin Islands Board
of Education from 1984 to 1986 and was appointed as a member to
the Virgin Islands Status Commission from 1988 to 1992.
Christensen is a member of the National Medical Association, the
Virgin Islands Medical Society, the Caribbean Studies
Association, the Caribbean Youth Organization and the Virgin
Islands Medical Institute. Prior to her election to
Congress she served on a variety of church and civic
associations.
She is the mother of two daughters, Rabiah Green George and
Karida Green and the grandmother of Nia Elena Hamilton, Kobe
George and Nealia Williams. She is the granddaughter of
the late renowned Virgin Islands educator Elena Christian.
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