Kristina Box

Kristina "Kris" McKee Box is an obstetrician-gynecologist who served as the State Health Commissioner of the Indiana Department of Health from 2017 to 2023. She was noted for leading Indiana's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a focus on maternal health, infant mortality, and combatting opioid addiction.

Early life Box was born in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, while her father was stationed as a dentist on a U.S. Air Force base. Box's father and paternal grandparents are from Terre Haute, Indiana, where she later grew up as well. She explained that she was inspired to become a doctor during a sixth-grade health project on anatomy.

Career

Practicing physician Box was an obstetrician-gynecologist within the Community Health Network—an Indianapolis-based hospital system—for more than 30 years. She began her career at Clearvista Women's Care in northeast Indianapolis in 1987. She served at Community Hospital East on team treating substance use disorder in pregnant people.

By 2017, Box began slowing down in her medical practice, planning to retire soon.

State Health Commissioner Box at a meeting of the Indiana State Department of Health during the COVID-19 response, with Governor Eric Holcomb and other officials, on March 11, 2020. On September 18, 2017, Governor Eric Holcomb nominated Box to serve as Indiana State Health Commissioner, replacing Jerome Adams—who had resigned to become Surgeon General of the United States. During her time helming the state's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Box contracted the disease twice. She first tested positive in October 2020, before the availability of a vaccine, and then in January 2022, while vaccinated, during the outbreak of the COVID-19 omicron variant.

Outside of her COVID-19 response, Box's tenure was noted for her successful advocacy, with Holcomb's administration, for a huge increase of public health funding in a conservative state. In her last year in office, in 2023, the Indiana state legislature passed an increase in health funding from $7 million to $225 million, an increase of 1,500%.

In November 2020, Box was named the Indiana Chamber's Birch Bayh-Richard Lugar Government Leader of the Year. Box reported the heavy demands of the job, sometimes working 12-hour days for 7-day weeks, in resigning in May 2023. Box announced her resignation on May 12, 2023, effective May 31, 2023; she was replaced by Dr. Lindsay Weaver.