(Washington, DC) Chairman Larry Craig announced today that the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs will hold a confirmation hearing on Thursday regarding Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin.

Dr. Perlin has been nominated by President Bush to be the Under Secretary for Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs. In that role he will serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). He has been the acting CEO since April of last year.

The confirmation hearing will be held Thursday, April 7, starting a 10 a.m. in room 418 of the Russell Senate Office Building. It will be webcast live on the committee's website located at http://veterans.senate.gov and may also be available ? audio only ? via the C-SPAN committee website, located at http://www.capitolhearings.org.

The VHA provides health care to more than 5.1 million veterans and 7.6 million enrollees throughout the United States. With a medical care budget of approximately $30 billion, VHA directly employs more than 196,500 health care professionals at more than 1,300 sites of care, including hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and various other facilities.

Dr. Perlin served as the VA's Deputy Under Secretary for Health from July 2002 to April 2004. He also served as VHA's Acting Chief Research and Development Officer from December 2003 to July 2004, directing a $1.8 billion research program specializing in basic, clinical, rehabilitation and health services research.

Dr. Perlin has a master's of science in health administration. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology (performing research in molecular biology) with his M.D. as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia Campus.