Donna Marie Christensen

Congresswoman Donna Christensen was a delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 to 2015 (105th-113th Congresses). Before her tenure in Congress, Christensen was a practicing physician and medical director at several institutions in the Virgin Islands including St. Croix Hospital. She also served as territorial assistant, commissioner of health and as the acting commissioner of Health for the Virgin Islands. In addition, Christensen served as Democratic national committeewoman and vice-chair of the Territorial Committee of the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands and on the Platform Committee of the Democratic National Committee. She is the first female physician in the history of the U.S. Congress, the first woman to represent an offshore territory, and the first woman delegate from the Virgin Islands. She served on the Resources, Small Business, and Homeland Security committees in the House. Christensen was chair of the Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Insular Affairs, which oversees offshore territories and freely associated states. Christensen fought to increase access to health care. Notably, she strongly supported Obama’s Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Christensen earned a bachelor’s degree from St. Mary’s College in Notre Dame and a medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in Washington, D.C.