Recognizing Dr. Jennifer Olsen
Floor Speech
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Mr. BISHOP of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Dr. Jennifer Olsen for her many years of outstanding service promoting the health and wellbeing of caregivers in Georgia and across the Nation. As 2024 comes to a close, Dr. Olsen will retire as Chief Executive Officer of the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregivers (RCI) after six years of impactful service
Under the leadership of Dr. Olsen, RCI, which is based at Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus, Georgia, has called for a robust public health strategy to support our Nation's caregivers at all levels of government. Following in the footsteps of our former first lady and RCI's late founder Mrs. Rosalynn Carter, Dr. Olsen led the call to place caregivers at the heart of our Nation's public health strategy. By shedding light on the stories and everyday struggles of caregivers and their families, Dr. Olsen also championed the creation of an Office of Caregiver Health in the federal government--an initiative I am pleased to support. Year-on-year, Dr. Olsen made tremendous strides in her efforts to improve working conditions for caregivers in every state in the Nation.
Prior to joining RCI in 2018, Dr. Olsen managed the Ending Pandemics in Our Lifetime initiative at the Skoll Global Threats Fund; co-created the internationally utilized EpihackTM process; and served as Fusion Division Director in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Olsen also directed disease surveillance activities for G-8 and G-20 summits, State of the Union Addresses, the 2009 Presidential Inauguration, and Democratic and Republican National Conventions. In addition, she advised on the development of a Federal Interagency Information Collection Plan for the 2009 H1N1 Influenza outbreak and served with the Defense Threat Reduction Agency.
Dr. Olsen has accomplished so much throughout her life and career, but none of it would have been possible without the Grace of God and the love and support of her family.
Ralph Waldo Emerson said the purpose of life ``is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.'' Dr. Olsen has lived a life well spent, serving those who care for others. Her unwavering service has transformed RCI, enabling it to successfully carry on Rosalynn Carter's legacy on behalf of family caregivers nationwide.
Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join my wife, Vivian; and me, along with the more than 765,000 people of Georgia's Second Congressional District, in recognizing Dr. Jennifer Olsen's extraordinary career of service to America's caregivers. May God continue to bless her and her family as she moves to the next chapter of her remarkable life.
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