Ms. Karen Ferguson Malebranche, RN, MSN, CNS, was the Executive Director for VA/DoD Health Affairs from 2009 to 2018. Prior to this position in the Veterans Health Administration, she was the Deputy and Acting Chief Officer for the Office of Legislative, Regulatory and Intergovernmental Affairs, Executive Director for the office of Operation Enduring Freedom/ Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Chief of the State Home Per Diem Grant Program in the Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care.

Col. (Ret.) Malebranche entered the Army from Helena, Montana and served 30+ years as an active duty soldier, nurse, senior health systems analyst and program manager in various clinical and administrative roles. Ms. Malebranche served on the Department of Defense (DoD) Recovering Warrior Task Force as the Veterans Affairs (VA) representative from 2011 to 2014. She also served on the President’s Task Force for Returning Global War on Terror Heroes in 2007. She went to VA after her last active duty assignment in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs.

She served on the Federal Health Care Center (FHCC) Advisory Board that is the only integrated federal facility that cares for active duty service members and veterans. She co-chaired the Interagency Care Coordination Committee’s Policy and Oversight subgroup that served both DoD and Department of VA in coordinating the complex care for the wounded, ill, and injured. Her office supported the VA UnderSecretary for Health for the Health Executive Committee that works directly with the DoD Assistant Secretary for Health and Defense Health Agency to jointly determine policies and operations to support the agencies leadership in medical sharing and joint ventures among several other initiatives.

Ms. Malebranche received her undergraduate degree in nursing from the University of Portland, OR and her graduate degree from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. She is a graduate of the University of North Carolina Senior Executive Service Training Course, Flagler School of Business in Chapel Hill, the Federal Executive Institute, Charlottesville, VA, and the Interagency Institute for Federal Health Care Executives, in Washington DC.