Indiana Names New Medical Commissioner

The state has named an Indianapolis-based OB-GYN as Indiana’s next health commissioner. As Sarah Fentem with Side Effects Public Media reports, Dr. Kristina Box will fill the position left vacant earlier this month when former health commissioner Jerome Adams became U.S. Surgeon General.

Dr. Kristina Box has practiced women’s health for nearly three decades. She currently works at Indianapolis’ Community Health Network.

Box also served as a member of the state’s task force for neonatal abstinence syndrome, which affects newborns whose parents exposed them to addictive substances in the womb.

Box’s work with neonatal abstinence syndrome put her at the intersection of two of Indiana’s most pressing health crises — the opioid epidemic and the state’s high infant mortality rate.

Indiana has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the country. In 2015, more than seven out of every 1,000 babies born in the state died before they turned one. Only six states have a higher rate.

A state press release says she plans to make decreasing infant mortality a top priority.