Ige Appoints Pressler to Head Hawaii Department of Health
Pressler currently serves as chief strategic officer at Hawaii Pacific Health.
Gov. David Ige has appointed Dr. Virginia 鈥淕inny鈥 Pressler to head the Department of Health, taking over where Linda Rosen left off.
鈥淕inny has more than 35 years of experience in the medical field and has held administrative positions for more than two decades,鈥 Ige said in a statement released Friday. 鈥淎 well-respected member of Hawaii鈥檚 medical and business communities, Ginny鈥檚 wealth of knowledge and experience equips her to lead the Department of Health.鈥
Ginny Pressler
Office of the Governor
Pressler’s聽appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.聽She is currently the executive vice president and chief strategic officer at Hawaii Pacific Health, the largest health care provider in the state.
Rosen is set to start her new job next week as CEO of the beleaguered Hawaii Health Systems Corp.
Pressler was deputy director of the DOH’s聽Health Resources Administration from 1999 to 2002. The release says she was instrumental in obtaining 60聽percent of the $1.3 billion tobacco settlement fund for public health purposes and initiated the Tobacco Trust Fund, Healthy Hawaii Initiative, Hawaii Outcomes Institute and Hawaii Uninsured Project.
Ige is slowly but surely putting his Cabinet together. He announced six other聽members on Dec. 3 and a handful of other appointments.
