Holcomb names OB-GYN to be next health commissioner

Dr. Kristina Box. (Provided Photo_Office of Gov. Eric Holcomb)_720607

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Gov. Eric Holcomb has named an OB-GYN to be Indiana’s next heath commissioner.

The Republican governor’s office announced Monday that Dr. Kristina Box will start in her new role on Oct. 16.

She is replacing Dr. Jerome Adams, who left the post to become President Donald Trump’s surgeon general.

Box has been an OB-GYN with the Community Health Network for more than 30 years.

She earned her bachelor’s degree at Indiana University in Bloomington and her medical doctorate at Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis.

Box has for more than a decade participated in medical missions to Haiti and Bolivia.

Holcomb said Box will focus on curbing Indiana’s infant mortality rate and reducing the impact of the opioid crisis.