Col Christine A. Kress is the Deputy, Education and Training (J-7), Defense Health Agency (DHA), Defense Health Headquarters, Falls Church, Virginia. She directs 584 personnel, across two regions, in the development and sustainment of Department of Defense (DoD) medical training initiatives and academic policy with an annual operating budget of 66M dollars. She provides strategic guidance to three training institutes supporting 87 training programs with 28K annual enlisted graduates at the DoD’s largest medical training campus, combat trauma and joint medical operations training to over 270K students and leadership training to over 10K tri-Service military healthcare leaders. She oversees 54M dollars in acquisitions, 13.7M dollars in contracts and a 395M dollar/20 building training complex. Col Kress serves as the Deputy Assistant Director for Education and Training’s strategic advisor for the transition of the oversight of education and training activities for 600 military treatment facilities into the DHA as outlined in the National Defense Authorization Act 2017. Col Kress entered the Air Force in 1993 as a Reserve Officers’ Training Corps Distinguished Graduate and has held leadership positions in the inpatient and outpatient arenas. She has commanded at the Squadron and Group level. Col Kress is dual board certified as a Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner and Adult and Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner. She deployed in support of a Medical Humanitarian mission to Peru and served on the Virginia Commonwealth University’s medical mission trip to Haiti. Prior to her current position, the Colonel was the Division Chief, J-7 Operations in the Education and Training Directorate at the Defense Health Agency.