New Association of State and Territorial Health Officials Leadership Takes Office

News provided by

Association of State and Territorial Health Officials

Sep 19, 2013, 07:30 ET

ORLANDO, Fla., Sept. 19, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Sept. 19, Terry Cline, commissioner of the Oklahoma State Department of Health, was elected president of the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO) during the association's annual meeting in Orlando, Florida. John Dreyzehner, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health, was elected as secretary-treasurer at the same meeting. Jewel Mullen, commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health, became president-elect. All take office immediately.

Cline has served as Oklahoma's commissioner of health since June 2009. He previously completed a post as health attaché at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, where he advised the U.S. ambassador, Iraqi minister of health, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on health-related challenges in Iraq. Cline served in this capacity under the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Cline was also administrator for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration from 2006-2008.

Dreyzehner began his medical career in 1989 as a U.S. Air Force flight surgeon. He served in leadership capacities at the squadron, wing, and headquarters levels in Air Combat Command. As the 94th Fighter Squadron flight surgeon, he had the opportunity to deploy overseas in support of diplomatic and combat missions. Before beginning his tenure at the Tennessee Department of Health in 2011, Dreyzehner served as director of the Cumberland Plateau Health District and acting director of the Lenowisco Health District, both in Virginia.

Mullen took office as commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Health in 2011. She previously was director of the Bureau of Community Health and Prevention at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. In 2012, CDC appointed Mullen to its advisory committee on health disparities, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary appointed her to chair the CDC Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection and Control Federal Advisory Committee.

José Montero, director of the Division of Public Health Services at the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, became immediate past president; and David Lakey, commissioner of the Texas Department of State Health Services, became past president. All ASTHO offices are one-year positions.

ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia, as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in state-based public health practice.

SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials