Deborah Parham, Ph.D., M.S.P.H., R.N., was appointed associate administrator for HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) on July 29, 2002.

HRSA works to fill in the health care gaps for people who live outside the economic and medical mainstream. The agency uses its $7.2 billion annual budget (FY 2004) to expand access to quality health care for all Americans through an array of grants to state and local governments, health care providers and health professions training programs.

As associate administrator for HRSA's HIV/AIDS Bureau, Parham is responsible for directing the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act program, which provides medical care, treatment, referrals and social services to people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS throughout the United States and its territories. Working with a staff of 180, she administers a budget of $2.02 billion that funds services for some 533,000 individuals each year. In addition to HIV/AIDS programs, Parham oversees HRSA's Office for the Advancement of Telehealth and Center for Quality.

Parham served as acting associate administrator of HAB between January 2002 and her permanent appointment and had been the bureau's deputy associate administrator since November 2000. As deputy associate administrator, Parham was principal advisor to the associate administrator, playing a key role in the oversight of the bureau's budget and the more than 775 grant recipients that receive funds to address critical health care needs for people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

Prior to being named deputy administrator, she was the director of the Division of Community Based Programs in the HIV/AIDS Bureau. She has also served in various positions in the federal Department of Health and Human Services and worked at the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine.

Parham received a bachelor of science degree in nursing from the University of Cincinnati. Her clinical practice was in neonatal intensive care nursing in Columbus, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. She earned a master of science in public health and a doctor of philosophy in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Parham is a Rear Admiral and Assistant Surgeon General in the U.S. Public Health Service.

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