On Wednesday, president-elect Donald Trump announced his nominee for the next cabinet secretary to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Dr. David Shulkin currently serves as the Undersecretary for Health in the VA, making him the organization’s third-in-command.
In August of 2015, when Shulkin was just a few weeks into the job, he came to Alaska as part of an official field hearing in Eagle River hosted by Rep. Sen. Dan Sullivan. At the time, Shulkin said the VA was facing issues that mirrored structural healthcare problems in the nation at large, and needs to focus on finding resources to handle an aging veteran population.
“We have to do a better job at VA of defining what our needs are, and letting Congress know what we need to be able to do to take care of the veterans of this country,” Shulkin said to reporters during a press conference ahead of the hearing. “It may be that with better projections we actually do need more resources.”
Before coming onto the VA, Shulkin worked for several large, private research hospitals.
In a press release, Senator Sullivan, who serves on the Veterans Affairs committee, said that he looks forward to continuing to work with Shulkin, but remains unsatisfied with how the VA is serving former service members.
Alaska has the highest per capita rate of veterans of any state in the country.
Zachariah Hughes reports on city & state politics, arts & culture, drugs, and military affairs in Anchorage and South Central Alaska.
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