HEALTHCARE DISCUSSION The Honorable John Kitzhaber, M.D. Governor of Oregon, 1995 - 2003 Click here for Governor Kitzhaber’s power point presentation. Governor Kitzhaber attended the University of Oregon Medical School, earning a medical degree in 1973, and practicing emergency medicine in Roseburg, Oregon, for 13 years. Kitzhaber first ran for public office in 1978 and was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives. In 1980 he was elected to the first of three terms in the Oregon Senate representing Douglas County and parts of Jackson County. He was elected senate president in 1985 and served in that position until 1993. He served two terms as governor of Oregon, from 1995 ­ 2003. Kitzhaber’s political career was marked by active leadership in the areas of public education, community development, environmental stewardship, and a wide variety of healthcare issues including long-term care, resource allocation, and uncompensated care. In January 2003 Dr. Kitzhaber began serving as president of the Estes Park Institute, which conducts six annual educational conferences for community hospitals. He serves as director for the Center for Evidence-Based Policy at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland and holds an endowed chair on healthcare policy with The Foundation for Medical Excellence, an Oregon-based public, nonprofit educational foundation. In August 2004 Dr. Kitzhaber began serving as the president of the Kitzhaber Center, a natural resource center housed at Lewis & Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon.