White House names 16 Fellows to learn about the federal government

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 (UPI) -- Sixteen leaders in their fields, including medical professionals, military leaders and business innovators, have been appointed to the 2015-2016 class of White House fellows.

The group of men and women will participate in the fellowship program as a way to learn more about the workings of the federal government and participate closely with national affairs. The program began in 1964 under President Lyndon B. Johnson.

"This unique opportunity to work within our nation's government is designed to encourage active citizenship and a lifelong commitment to service," the White House said.

There are more than 700 White House Fellow alumni, including former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao, former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros, CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin.

The 2015-2016 class:

C. Spencer Abbot of Yorktown, Va. -- U.S. Navy commander.

Teeb Al-Samarrai of Oakland, Calif. -- Deputy health officer and tuberculosis controller at the Santa Clara County Public Health Department.

Andrew Anderson of Douglas, Wyo. -- U.S. Air Force major.

Alexander Billioux of Simpsonville, S.C. -- Primary care internist.

Sara Bleich of Baltimore -- Associate professor of health policy and management at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Naomi Dennis of Houston -- U.S. Air Force major and former deputy staff judge advocate to the commander of the Air Force Expeditionary Center.

Shereef Elnahal of Baltimore -- Radiation oncology resident at Johns Hopkins Hospital.

September Hargrove of New Orleans -- Chief operating officer of the PowerMoves NOLA Initiative at the New Orleans Startup Fund.

Corey Harrison of Browns Mills, N.J. -- Corporate strategy executive at iCIMS, a talent acquisition software company.

La'Shanda Holmes of Fayetteville, N.C. -- U.S. Coast Guard lieutenant and the Coast Guard's first black female helicopter pilot.

Rayden Llano of Miami -- Program director of health policy and economics at LSE Enterprise.

Jennifer Macdonald of St. Cloud, Minn. -- Oper­­ation Iraqi Freedom veteran and a family medicine physician at UCLA.

Erik Malmstrom of West Hartford, Conn. -- Business development manager for Cargill Grain and Oilseed Supply Chain Mideast and Africa at Cargill, Inc.

Rei Onishi of Citrus Heights, Calif. -- California Department of Justice deputy attorney general.

Maxeme Tuchman of Miami -- Executive director of Teach For America Miami-Dade.

Kamillah Wood of Washington, DC -- Associate medical director of Mobile Health Programs at Children's National Health System.