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The Guam Women’s Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce its General Membership Meeting scheduled for Thursday, August 25, 2016, at The View, located at the Pacific Star Resort & Spa. GWCC’s keynote speaker will be the Honorable Donna M. Christensen.
Christensen 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 U.S. Virgin Islands. She served as the non-voting delegate from the U.S. Virgin Islands to the U.S. House of Representatives from 1997 until 2015.
Prior to entering politics, Christensen began her medical career in the U.S. Virgin Islands in 1975 as an emergency room physician at St. Croix Hospital. Between 1987 and 1988 she was medical director of the St. Croix Hospital and from 1988 to 1994 she was Commissioner of Health for the Virgin Islands. From 1977 to 1996 Christensen maintained a private practice in family medicine and was also a television journalist from 1992 to 1996.
As a member of the Democratic Party of the Virgin Islands, she served as Democratic National Committeewoman, member of the Democratic Territorial Committee and Delegate to all the Democratic Conventions in 1984, 1988 and 1992.
Christensen was also elected to the Virgin Islands Board of Education in 1984 and served for two years. She served as a member of the Virgin Islands Status Commission from 1988 to 1992. In 1996 Christensen was elected as the non-voting delegate from the Virgin Islands in the U.S. Congress.
Despite her non-voting status, she served on various house committees including the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on Homeland Security. She also chaired the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs and was a member of the Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues, Congressional Travel and Tourism Caucus, Congressional Rural Caucus, Friends of the Caribbean Caucus, Coastal Caucus, and the Congressional National Guard and Reserve Caucus.
