Jump to content

Kristine Gebbie

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kristine Gebbie
Gebbie with President Bill Clinton in 1993
White House AIDS Policy Coordinator
In office
June 25, 1993 – August 2, 1994
PresidentBill Clinton
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPatricia Fleming
Secretary of the Washington State Department of Health
In office
1989 – June 25, 1993
GovernorBooth Gardner
Personal details
BornKristine Elizabeth Moore
June 26, 1943
Sioux City, Iowa, U.S.
DiedMay 17, 2022(2022-05-17) (aged 78)
Adelaide, Australia
Spouses
Neil Gebbie
​
(divorced)​
Lester Nils Wright
​
(died 2022)​
Children3, 2 stepchildren
Alma mater

Kristine Elizabeth Moore Gebbie (June 26, 1943 – May 17, 2022) was an American academic and public health official who served as the first AIDS Policy Coordinator (or "AIDS Czar") from 1993 to 1994. A nurse and epidemiologist, she had previously been director of the Oregon Department of Health and Secretary of the Washington State Department of Health, and was later a professor of nursing and Dean of the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing at Hunter College.

Early life and education

[edit]

Gebbie was born in Sioux City, Iowa, the daughter of Irene (Stewart), who worked for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Thomas Moore, a career officer in the Army.[1][2] Her father's career took the family to Panama, the Philippines, and Albuquerque, New Mexico, and she spent part of her childhood in Miles City, Montana, with her grandparents.[1][3]

Inspired by an aunt to become a nurse, Gebbie worked as a nurse's aide in high school.[1] She earned a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from St. Olaf College in 1965, a Master of Science in Nursing in community mental health from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1968, and a Doctor of Public Health in health policy from the University of Michigan School of Public Health in 1995;[1][4][5] she was working on her doctoral dissertation, on the evolution of Washington State statutes, when appointed AIDS Policy Coordinator.[3][6]

Career

[edit]

Gebbie was the director of the Oregon Department of Health from 1978 to 1989[7] and the Secretary of the Washington State Department of Health from 1989 to 1993.[1][8]

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic unfolded in the United States in the 1980s, Gebbie became a member of the AIDS task force of the American Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.[1][3] Despite being an outspoken opponent of the Reagan administration's policies on AIDS testing, she was appointed as a member of the President's Commission on the HIV Epidemic[9] and subsequently served on the National Commission on AIDS and as chairman of the advisory panel on H.I.V. prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.[8] In June 1993 she was appointed by President Bill Clinton as the first U.S. AIDS Czar (AIDS Policy Coordinator).[1][3][9] After criticism from AIDS organizations that she was not achieving enough, she resigned the position in July 1994.[1][6]

Gebbie then became the Elizabeth Standish Gill Professor at the Columbia University School of Nursing and Director of the university's Center for Health Policy. In 2008 she left Columbia for Hunter College, where she was the acting Joan Hansen Grabe Dean of the Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing until 2010.[1][10]

She and her husband retired in Adelaide, Australia, where she was a faculty member at the Torrens Resilience Initiative of the Flinders University School of Nursing & Midwifery[11][12] and at the University of Adelaide Nursing School.[1][4]

Gebbie was a founding member of the National Board of Public Health Examiners, which provides certification for public health professionals and graduates of CEPH-accredited institutions.[citation needed] She was a consultant to the International Council of Nurses on disaster nursing, leading the development of its Core Competencies in Disaster Nursing, and a consultant to the World Health Organization in developing its Global Competency Framework for Universal Health Coverage.[13]

Honors and memberships

[edit]

Gebbie was a fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Nursing.[4]

She received the Ruth B. Freeman Award of the Public Health Nursing Section of the American Public Health Association in 2003,[7] the GE Healthcare Pioneering Spirit Award of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses in 2010,[14] and a Nurse 21 Award from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2012.[12][13]

Personal life and death

[edit]

Gebbie had three children with her first husband, Neil Gebbie. Her second marriage was to Lester Nils Wright, a physician, with whom she had two stepsons. He died in April 2022. Gebbie died in Adelaide on May 17, 2022, from cancer.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Roberts, Sam (May 25, 2022) [May 23, 2022]. "Kristine Gebbie, the First U.S. AIDS Czar, Dies at 78". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 6, 2022.
  2. ^ Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States. Federal Register Division, National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration. 1989. p. 1316.
  3. ^ a b c d Cimons, Marlene (August 5, 1993). "AIDS Czar's Plan: People Talking With Each Other: Kristine Gebbie will try to develop a more effective national prevention strategy. States would create their own programs". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 20, 2025. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c Lavelle, Andrew. "Kristine Gebbie". World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
  5. ^ "Notable alumni: Kristine Gebbie". Alumni Association of the University of Michigan. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  6. ^ a b Hilts, Philip J. (July 9, 1994). "Clinton's Director Of Policy on AIDS Resigns Under Fire". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 4, 2022.
  7. ^ a b "Kristine Gebbie Receives Ruth B. Freeman Award". Columbia University School of Nursing. May 15, 2014. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  8. ^ a b Schmalz, Jeffrey (November 28, 1993). "Whatever Happened to AIDS?". The New York Times magazine. Retrieved September 24, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Jehl, Douglas (June 25, 1993). "Ex-Washington State Official to Get AIDS Post". The New York Times. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  10. ^ "Under Direction of New Dean, Nursing School Regains its Independent Status" (PDF). Nursing at Hunter. Hunter College. Spring 2009. p. 1. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  11. ^ "Professor Kristine Gebbie". Flinders University. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  12. ^ a b "Renowned US public health educator comes to Flinders". Flinders University. April 11, 2012. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  13. ^ a b Stewart, David (May 20, 2022). "'Who said we can't do that?' Remembering Prof. Kristine Gebbie (1948 – 2022)". International Council of Nurses. Retrieved September 8, 2025.
  14. ^ "Dean Gebbie Honored for Valuable Contributions to Acute Care Nursing" (PDF). Nursing at Hunter. Hunter College. Fall 2010. p. 4.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kristine_Gebbie&oldid=1310412743"