Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Friday appointed Dr. Linda Rosen, chief of Emergency Medical Services, a pediatrician and medical school associate professor, to serve as state health director, filling a vacancy created when Director Loretta Fuddy died in December after a plane crash off Molo­kai.

Rosen’s appointment is effective immediately but is subject to state Senate confirmation. A confirmation hearing will be held later in the legislative session.

"Linda has more than 30 years of experience in the medical field and has held administrative positions for more than a decade," Abercrombie said in a news release announcing the appointment. "Drawing from existing leadership within the Health Department, I have full confidence that Linda will continue the significant progress realized under late Director Loretta Fuddy for the remainder of her term."

Rosen has been with the department since 2000, serving as medical director of the Family Health Services division and Pediatric Emergency Services, deputy director for health resources administration and, most recently, chief of the Emergency Medical Services and Injury Prevention System Branch, according to Abercrombie’s announcement.

Sen. Josh Green (D, Naalehu-Kailua-Kona), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, said he intends to schedule a confirmation hearing to consider the appointment sometime in the next two weeks and that he expects widespread support.

"We have a close working relationship, and I have a lot of respect for Dr. Rosen," Green, who works as an emergency-room doctor on Hawaii island, told the Hono­lulu Star-Advertiser on Friday. "Linda’s done an exceptional job developing our trauma system and is a strong physician leader."

A trained pediatrician, Rosen worked in the emergency and critical care and neonatology departments at Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children from 1985 until she joined the state department. She also has been a faculty member at the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s John A. Burns School of Medicine since 1987, where she has served as assistant and associate professor of pediatrics and is currently an associate clinical professor of pediatrics and surgery.

The department has been without a leader since Monday, when interim Director Gary Gill had to return to his position as deputy director of environmental health because his 30-day term as interim director had expired. Abercrombie appointed Gill to serve as interim director Dec. 24, nearly two weeks after Fuddy’s death.

"Dr. Rosen has been part of our Department of Health team for many years, and she is very familiar with the workings of the department," Gill said Friday in a written statement provided by the department. "The existing team of deputies looks forward to her leadership."

Fuddy, 65, died of cardiac arrhythmia while awaiting rescue in the ocean following the Dec. 11 Makani Kai Air plane crash in waters off Molo­kai shortly after taking off from Kalaupapa. Eight other people, including the pilot, who were aboard the flight survived.

Just before Fuddy’s death the United Health Foundation named Hawaii the healthiest state in America after ranking it second in 2012 and third in 2011.

Abercrombie said in his news release that Rosen, who is a Punahou School graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of Cali­for­nia, Los Angeles, before receiving her medical degree from the Baylor College of Medicine, is particularly passionate about utilizing a comprehensive public health approach — focused on prevention and risk reduction — as a means to reducing death, disability and health disparities.

Green said Rosen will serve as interim director until her appointment is approved by the Senate.