CAPT Douglas started her career in 1979 as an administrative resident in the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Health Resources Administration. She was commissioned in the Corps in 1981 with recommendations from several senior managers in the Corps. After the closure of the Marine Hospital System in 1981, as a LTJG, she provided vital services for her fellow officers by establishing the Beneficiary Medical Program (BMP) to assure that officers in the Corps, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the Commissioned Corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration continued to receive health care services in areas where there were no Military Treatment Facilities. Because of her leadership and outstanding performance in coordinating the BMP health services, she was requested by the USCG to serve as a line manager. In this position, she was responsible for the direct supervision of five staff to monitor contract health services and coordinate health policy guidance with the Department of Defense to 12 district medical administrators affecting health care service for 38,000 USCG service members.
After serving in three other management assignments within and outside of HHS, in 1992 she was assigned the Deputy Director and Deputy Executive Officer position in the Bureau of Primary Health Care’s (BPHC) Office of Operations and Management. In this assignment CAPT Douglas had responsibility concurrently with the Director for administrative management of primary health care programs that provided human resource services to over 700 staff nationally and funding of over $1 billion in primary health service to 10 million vulnerable and underserved populations. In this role, she was in charge of the Bureau’s major functions, which included planning, programming and operations of the BPHC with the Director. She exercised full authority for the administrative management of the Bureau, which included overseeing the coordination of the Bureau’s budget, grants, personnel, data system, and managerial functions. She showed exemplary initiative and creativity in managing the Bureau’s resources for eight offices and eight Divisions. During her tenure with BPHC, CAPT Douglas dedicated herself to resolving the Bureau’s complex situations and problems. She implemented the Bureau’s spending plans by using alternative strategies for accomplishing program activities with limited resources. As a result of her efforts, she was selected to become a fellow in 1997 in the Council for Excellent in Government Program, which she completed in 1998.
She was later detailed from the BPHC in the Health Resources Services Administration (HRSA) to the Community Access Program (CAP), a program developed by the Secretary of HHS. This was a new program designed to assist communities and consortia of healthcare providers to develop the infrastructure necessary to fully develop and strengthen integrated health systems of care and coordinate health services for the Nation’s uninsured. In this assignment, she provided technical assistance and program information to over 1,000 potential applicants to the CAP. In addition, she managed the application review process for over 300 applications which involved initiating contacts with over 300 potential reviewers; developing letters, reviewer guide, reporting requirements and other communications; hiring over 140 reviewers; contracting with a hotel and logistics consultant; and overseeing the review process on-site. As a result of this program, there are currently over 200 programs that have developed partnerships to strengthen current health delivery systems across the Nation and have improved patient access and increased services.
Currently, CAPT Douglas is the Deputy Director of the Division of Service Systems (DSS) within HRSA’s HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB). HRSA directs national programs to improve the Nation's health by assuring equitable access to comprehensive quality health care for all. The HAB administers the $2.1 billion Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program which provides vitally needed resources for health care, treatment, and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS.
As the Deputy Director, CAPT Douglas is responsible concurrently with the Director for managing over $1.8 billion to assure the issuance of funds to States, Territories, and metropolitan areas 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 this position, CAPT Douglas assures that people infected with and affected by HIV disease have access to quality health care and support services including medications through over 3,000 providers in areas impacted by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In addition, she has participated and provided valuable input on several re-organization workgroups within HRSA to change the grants application review and grantee site visit processes, therefore making an impact on reducing the compliance burden of HRSA grantees. This enables grantees to now spend more time providing services to eligible clients.
She strongly supports her community by becoming a volunteer Board member with Hearts and Homes for Youth, a program that provides therapeutic groups, shelter, and runaway homes for youth. Because of her contributions, she received the Governor’s Citation from the State of Maryland. She was one of the Founding members and serves on the Board of Directors of the John C. Eason, Jr. Scholarship Fund, Inc., which provides scholarships for high school students seeking careers in health and research. Through these activities, CAPT Douglas demonstrates her interest in raising the living standards and the hopes of the disenfranchised within her local community and the Nation.
CAPT Douglas’ career demonstrates years of commitment in public service through leadership, professionalism, creativity, mobility, and willingness to serve. CAPT Douglas has served on a number of Corps review boards and, for 8 years, served on the Surgeon General’s Policy Advisory Council. She currently is the HIV/AIDS Bureau’s Commission Corps Liaison. Additionally, through her individual efforts, CAPT Douglas is responsible for recruiting eight minority HRSA Scholars into the Corps. She maintains basic ready status and has deployed to provide disaster relief. She has received numerous PHS awards and citations including the following PHS awards: Surgeon General’s Exemplary Service Medal, Outstanding Service Medal, PHS Citation, Commendation Medal, Achievement medal, and a number of Unit and Outstanding Commendations.