State health agency

A state health agency (SHA), or state department of health, is a department or agency of the state governments of the United States focused on public health. The state secretary of health is a constitutional or at times a statutory official in several states of the United States. The position is the chief executive official for the state's state health agency (or equivalent), chief administrative officer for the state's Board of Health (or equivalent), or both.

Following passage of the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974, during the first ten years of the program the state health departments were given new and important roles under the law. Due to new grants available, they had enhanced their programs and had many more resources to oversee and help utilities come into compliance with drinking water standards, and they were able to develop other related activities like the capacity for doing risk assessments on new contaminants of concern.

Terminology

Although the vast majority of these agencies are officially called "departments," the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials adopted "state health agency" as the generic term to reflect the fact that a substantial number of these agencies are no longer state "departments" in the traditional sense of a cabinet-level organizational unit dedicated exclusively to public health. During the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, at least 20 states and the District of Columbia merged these departments with other government agencies that provide social services, welfare, or other types of unrelated services. The result is that in those jurisdictions, the state government agency that actually provides public health services is but one of several units inside a large cabinet-level agency.

Responsibilities

State health departments have different names and responsibilities; in some states they are top-level administrative agencies, while in other states they are a division or bureau of another office. Health departments are usually responsible for public health, including preventive medicine, epidemiology, vaccinations, environmental health (sometimes including health inspections), and the licensing of health care professionals; the collection and archiving of vital records such as birth and death certificates and sometimes marriage and divorce certificates; health statistics; developmental disabilities; mental health; occupational safety and health; receiving and recording reports of notifiable diseases; and tobacco control.

In some states, state health departments may additionally be responsible for social services and welfare, environmental protection/pollution control, or the operation of the state psychiatric hospital. Some states have a Surgeon General.

State health agencies (SHAs)

The following are state health agencies as identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:

State	SHA	Health Officer’s position	Health Officer’s name	Website
Alabama	Alabama Department of Public Health	State Health Officer	Dr. Scott Harris, MD, MPH	http://alabamapublichealth.gov
Alaska	Alaska Department of Health	Commissioner	Heidi Hedberg, BA	https://health.alaska.gov
Arizona	Arizona Department of Health Services	Cabinet Executive Officer	Jennifer Cunico, MC	https://www.azdhs.gov
Arkansas	Arkansas Department of Health	Secretary of Health	Renee Mallory, RN, BSN	https://healthy.arkansas.gov
		Director, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Jennifer Dillaha, MD
California	California Department of Public Health	Director, State Public Health Officer	Dr. Tomás Aragón, MD, DrPH	https://www.cdph.ca.gov
Colorado	Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment	Executive Director	Jill Hunsaker Ryan, MPH	https://www.colorado.gov/cdphe
Connecticut	Connecticut State Department of Public Health	Commissioner	Dr. Manisha Juthani, MD	https://portal.ct.gov/dph
Delaware	Delaware Division of Public Health (Delaware Department of Health and Social Services)	Commissioner	Steven L. Blessing, MA	https://dhss.delaware.gov/dhss/dph/
District of Columbia	District of Columbia Department of Health	Director	Dr. Ayanna Bennett, MD, MSPH, FAAP	https://dchealth.dc.gov/
Florida	Florida Department of Health	Secretary and Surgeon General	Dr. Joseph Ladapo, MD, PhD	http://www.floridahealth.gov
Georgia	Georgia Department of Public Health	Commissioner and State Health Officer	Dr. Kathleen Toomey, MD, MPH	https://dph.georgia.gov
Hawaii	Hawaii State Department of Health	Director	Dr. Kenneth Fink, MD, MGA, MPH	https://health.hawaii.gov
Idaho	Division of Public Health (Idaho Department of Health and Welfare)	Public Health Administrator	Elke Shaw-Tulloch, MHS	https://healthandwelfare.idaho.gov
Illinois	Illinois Department of Public Health	Director of Public Health	Dr. Sameer Vohra, MD, JD, MA, FAAP	http://www.dph.illinois.gov
Indiana	Indiana Department of Health	State Health Commissioner	Dr. Lindsay Weaver, MD, FACEP	https://www.in.gov/health/
Iowa	Iowa Department of Health and Human Services	Director	Kelly Garcia, MPA	https://hhs.iowa.gov/
		State Medical Director, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Robert Kruse, MD, MPH
Kansas	Kansas Department of Health and Environment	Secretary	Janet Stanek, MBA	https://www.kdhe.ks.gov/
Kentucky	Kentucky Department for Public Health (Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services)	Commissioner	Dr. Steven J. Stack, MD, MBA	https://www.chfs.ky.gov/agencies/dph/
Louisiana	Louisiana Office of Public Health (Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals)	Surgeon General	Dr. Ralph L. Abraham, MD	https://ldh.la.gov/
		Secretary	Michael Harrington
Maine	Maine Center for Disease Control & Prevention (Maine Department of Health and Human Services)	Director	Dr. Puthiery Va, DO	https://www.maine.gov/dhhs/mecdc/
Maryland	Maryland Department of Health	Secretary of Health	Dr. Laura Herrera Scott, MD, MPH	https://health.maryland.gov
		Deputy Secretary, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Nilesh Kalyanaraman, MD
Massachusetts	Massachusetts Department of Public Health	Commissioner	Dr. Robert Goldstein, MD, PhD	https://www.mass.gov/orgs/department-of-public-health
Michigan	Michigan Department of Health and Human Services	Director	Elizabeth Hertel, MBA	https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs
		Chief Medical Executive, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, MD, MPH, FIDSA
Minnesota	Minnesota Department of Health	Health Commissioner	Dr. Brooke Cunningham, MD, PhD	https://www.health.state.mn.us/
Mississippi	Mississippi State Department of Health	State Health Officer	Dr. Daniel Edney, MD, FACP, FASAM	https://msdh.ms.gov
Missouri	Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services	Director	Paula Nickelson, MA	https://health.mo.gov
Montana	Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services	State Medical Director	Dr. Douglas Harrington, MD	https://dphhs.mt.gov
Nebraska	Division of Public Health (Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services)	Chief Executive Officer	Dr. Steve Corsi, PsyD	http://www.dhhs.ne.gov
		Director, Division of Public Health, State Health Officer Designee	Charity Menefee, MA
Nevada	Nevada Division of Public & Behavioural Health (Nevada Department of Health and Human Services)	Administrator	Cody Phinney, MPH	http://dhhs.nv.gov
		Chief Medical Officer, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Ihsan Azzam, MD, PhD, MPH
New Hampshire	New Hampshire Department of Health & Human Services	Associate Commissioner	Patricia Tilley, MS Ed	https://www.dhhs.nh.gov
New Jersey	New Jersey Department of Health	Health Commissioner	Dr. Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM	https://www.nj.gov/health/
New Mexico	New Mexico Department of Health	Interim Cabinet Secretary	Gina DeBlassie	https://nmhealth.org
		Chief Medical Officer, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Miranda Durham, MD
New York	New York State Department of Health	Commissioner of Health	Dr. James McDonald, MD, MPH	https://www.health.ny.gov
North Carolina	North Carolina Division of Public Health (North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services)	Acting Director	Dr. Kelly Kimple, MD, MPH	https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/public-health
		State Health Director, Chief Medical Officer, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Elizabeth Cuervo Tilson, MPH, MD
North Dakota	North Dakota Department of Health	State Health Officer	Dr. Nizar Wehbi, MD, MPH, MBA, FACHE, CPH	https://www.hhs.nd.gov/health
Ohio	Ohio Department of Health	Director of Health	Dr. Bruce Vanderhoff, MD, MBA	https://www.odh.ohio.gov
Oklahoma	Oklahoma State Department of Health	Commissioner of Health	Col. Keith Reed, RN, MPH, CPH	https://oklahoma.gov/health
Oregon	Public Health Division, Oregon Health Authority	Director	Dr. Sejal Hathi, MD, MBA	https://www.oregon.gov/oha/ph
		Public Health Director, State Health Officer Designee	Naomi Adeline-Biggs, MBBS, MPH
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Department of Health	Secretary of Health	Dr. Debra Bogen, MD, FAAP	https://www.health.pa.gov
Rhode Island	Rhode Island Department of Health	Director	Dr. Jerome Larkin, MD	https://health.ri.gov
South Carolina	South Carolina Department of Public Health	Interim Director	Dr. Edward Simmer, MD, MPH	https://dph.sc.gov/
		Director of Public Health, State Health Officer Designee	Dr. Brannon Traxler, MD, MPH
South Dakota	South Dakota Department of Health	Secretary of Health	Melissa Magstadt, CNP, MBA	https://doh.sd.gov
Tennessee	Tennessee Department of Health	Commissioner	Dr. Ralph Alvarado, MD, FACP	https://www.tn.gov/health
Texas	Texas Department of State Health Services	Commissioner	Dr. Jennifer Shuford, MD, MPH	https://www.dshs.state.tx.us
Utah	Utah Department of Health and Human Services	Executive Medical Director	Dr. Stacey Bank, MD	https://dhhs.utah.gov/
Vermont	Vermont Department of Health	Commissioner of Health	Dr. Mark Levine, MD	https://www.healthvermont.gov
Virginia	Virginia Department of Health	State Health Commissioner	Dr. Karen Shelton, MD	http://www.vdh.virginia.gov
Washington	Washington State Department of Health	Secretary of Health	Dr. Umair Shah, MD, MPH	https://www.doh.wa.gov
West Virginia	West Virginia Bureau for Public Health (West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources)	State Health Officer	Dr. Matthew Christiansen, MD, MPH	https://dhhr.wv.gov/bph/
Wisconsin	Wisconsin Department of Health Services	State Health Officer, Division of Public Health Administrator	Paula Tran, MPH	https://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/dph/
Wyoming	Public Health Division (Wyoming Department of Health)	State Health Officer	Dr. Alexia Harrist, MD, PhD	https://health.wyo.gov
		Senior Administrator, State Health Officer Designee	Stephanie Sandoval, MBA

Further reading

EPA Alumni Association: Drinking Water, Half Century of Progress – a brief history of U.S. efforts to protect drinking water

See also

• Health departments in the United States
• State education agency
• Health care in the United States
• United States Department of Health and Human Services
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

External links

• StatePublicHealth.org - "State public health information and analysis."
• hss.alaska.gov - "Alaska Department of Health and Social Services"
• Rutgers University 12 Week Environment and Public Health course - "Rutgers University 12 Week Environment and Public Health Course prepares students for public health agency careers"