Lois Quam, a Minnesota native, former UnitedHealth executive and health care adviser to the U.S. State Department, has been named chief operating officer of the Nature Conservancy in Arlington, Va. (Courtesy of Nature Conservancy)

After a long career shaping health care policies at both the private and very public levels in Minnesota and Washington, Lois Quam has found another project: helping heal the planet.

At least that's what she sees as the mission of the Nature Conservancy, the organization she joined last week as chief operating officer. She will be based in Arlington, Va.

Quam was a longtime UnitedHealth executive and oversaw significant growth at the Minnetonka-based health care giant. During those years, she also worked on public health care initiatives, from chairing Gov. Rudy Perpich's Minnesota Health Care Access committee, beginning in 1989, to working with then-first lady Hillary Clinton in 1993 on the President's Task Force on Health Care Reform.

In 2011, she reunited with Clinton, then secretary of state, at the U.S. State Department, and also worked with current Secretary John Kerry leading global health initiatives across a number of organizations.

In an interview last week, on her second day at the Nature Conservancy, Quam described her new role. Her answers were edited for clarity and consistency.

How does your health care work translate into your new job at the Nature Conservancy?

"Illness is related to pollution, unsafe water; and protecting the land and water that our lives depend on is one of the effective ways to help us stay well.

"I've always tried to find a better way to do things: How can we find better or more effective ways to protect our land and water?

"I like finding those gems, those really good ideas. I like taking good ideas and bringing them to full potential.

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Health care diplomat Lois Quam's new role seems natural