May 6, 2009 – The National Bar Association (NBA) Healthcare Law Section has selected Delegate to Congress Donna M. Christensen and Jerry G. Bradford Esq. as the inaugural recipients of its Distinguished Leadership and Diversity Trailblazer Awards. The presentation to the honorees will occur during the Healthcare Law Summit VIP Awards Reception, to be held at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, May 7, at the Renaissance Washington Hotel, 999 Ninth Street, NW.
The award will be given to the Donna M. Christensen for her commitment to the advancement of healthcare policy. Christensen exemplifies leadership, as 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 female Delegate from the United States Virgin Islands.
She serves as an assistant majority whip and is a new member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the first non-voting delegate to be named to the committee. She has just been elected second 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. Christensen 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 George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C. and completed her residency in family medicine at Howard University Medical Center in 1974.
The Diversity Trailblazer Award recipient Jerry Bradford is an associate general counsel for Alcon Laboratories Inc., the world's largest eye care company.
Founded in 1925, the National Bar Association is the nation's oldest and largest national network of minority attorneys. It represents approximately 44,000 lawyers, judges, law professors and law students and has over 80 affiliate chapters throughout the United States and around the world. The organization seeks to advance the science of jurisprudence, preserve the independence of the judiciary and to uphold the honor and integrity of the legal profession.
