James W. Holsinger

James W. Holsinger

James Wilson Holsinger, Jr., (born May 11, 1939 in Kansas City, Kansas) is an American physician. A former major general in the U.S. Army Reserve (1962 to 1993), he has worked primarily in public health for over thirty years. He served as the Under Secretary of Veterans Affairs for Health from 1990 to 1993, during the administrations of George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton. From 1994 to 2003, Holsinger was the Chancellor of the University of Kentucky's Chandler Medical Center. From 2003 to 2005 he served as Kentucky's Secretary of Health and Family Services.

On May 24, 2007, President George W. Bush nominated Holsinger to become the Surgeon General of the United States. Holsinger's nomination became controversial and was never voted on by the Senate due to, according to his critics, anti-gay bias in his work in the United Methodist Church where he voted to expel a lesbian pastor and for a 1991 report where he characterized gay sex as unnatural and unhealthy. In January 2009, instead, Bush appointed Holsinger to fill a vacant unpaid position on the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports to expire May 2010.

Holsinger obtained his medical degree in 1964 and a Ph.D. in anatomy in 1968, both from Duke University. As of 2009, he is a professor at the University of Kentucky. Holsinger is a leader in the United Methodist Church, serving as treasurer of the World Methodist Council and was previously President of the Judicial Council.