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HAB's Douglas, Morales are Honored

Two Commissioned Corps officers who work in HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) received high honors June 12 at the 2008 U.S. Public Health Service Scientific and Training Symposium in Tucson.

CAPT Hilda Douglas, deputy director of the HAB Division of Service Systems since 2000, was presented the Stanley J. Kissel Award, the highest honor a Health Services Officer can receive. It recognizes an individual whose career accomplishments have resulted in outstanding contributions to the nation’s health and to the mission of the Public Health Service (PHS).

“I accept this award,” CAPT Douglas said, “in honor of CAPT Stanley Kissel, whose outstanding leadership and commitment to serve those with the greatest health needs is an example for us all.”

CAPT Jose ‘Rafi’ Morales, medical director for HAB’s Global HIV/AIDS Program, received the Juan Carlos Finlay Award, which honors individuals who have demonstrated outstanding leadership, initiative, and dedication in improving health services for Hispanics.

“This award represents the many contributions that Hispanics make to this nation,” CAPT Morales said. “I accept it with profound gratitude for the opportunity to serve as a PHS Commissioned Officer.”

CAPT Douglas received the Kissel Award for leadership in providing care, treatment and services to the medically underserved throughout her career and for her myriad accomplishments as a PHS officer. As deputy division director, CAPT Douglas helps the director oversee a $1.8 billion federal grant program for health care and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS under Parts A and B of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. In addition, she monitors over $2 million in technical assistance services to support national program efforts.

CAPT Douglas is one of HRSA’s original employees, having joined the Health Resources Administration in 1979, three years before it merged with the Health Services Administration to form HRSA. Prior to assuming her current position, she was deputy director and executive officer for the Bureau of Primary Health Care’s Office of Operations and Management. Her numerous awards include the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal and the Crisis Response Award for her services during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

CAPT Morales, a physician, joined the Public Health Service in 1986. His first assignment was as medical director and obstetrician/gynecologist to the Community Health Center in Loiza, in his native Puerto Rico, where in 1988 he published the “Protocol for the Comprehensive Management of AIDS at the Primary Care Level.” In 1991, he became medical director of the Migrant Health Center in Mayaguez, P.R., where he won the Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal for increasing patient rolls, adding clinic sites and securing Ryan White Program funds to care for patients living with HIV/AIDS.

CAPT Morales joined HAB in 2000 as chief of the Comprehensive Family Services Branch. In 2003, he was named chief medical officer and director of the Division of Community Based Programs and in 2007 became medical director for HAB’s Global HIV/AIDS Program. In that post he administers guidance to over 200 programs which provide HIV/ AIDS care in nine countries in Africa and the Caribbean.

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