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DeWine Appoints First Woman To Head Ohio Department Of Health

Dr. Amy Acton and Gov. Mike DeWine shake hands after she was sworn in as Director of the Ohio Department of Health.
Karen Kasler
Dr. Amy Acton and Gov. Mike DeWine shake hands after she was sworn in as Director of the Ohio Department of Health.

Gov. Mike DeWine has filled the final position open in his cabinet, which is likely the most diverse in state history.

Amy Acton has decades of experience as a doctor and administrator. She’s the first physician to lead the agency in almost five years.

And Acton says she has a holistic approach. “The food we eat is our health. Where we live, the zip code we’re born into is our health. All the things that surround us are creating the conditions in which we can lead flourishing lives," Acton said.

Among Acton’s priorities are infant mortality and youth homelessness, which she says she experienced growing up in Youngstown.

The Department of Health oversees Ohio’s abortion clinics. Acton says she doesn’t have a stance on abortion but that she’ll follow the law.

Copyright 2020 The Statehouse News Bureau. To see more, visit The Statehouse News Bureau.

Karen is a lifelong Ohioan who has served as news director at WCBE-FM, assignment editor/overnight anchor at WBNS-TV, and afternoon drive anchor/assignment editor in WTAM-AM in Cleveland. In addition to her daily reporting for Ohio’s public radio stations, she’s reported for NPR, the BBC, ABC Radio News and other news outlets. She hosts and produces the Statehouse News Bureau’s weekly TV show “The State of Ohio”, which airs on PBS stations statewide. She’s also a frequent guest on WOSU TV’s “Columbus on the Record”, a regular panelist on “The Sound of Ideas” on ideastream in Cleveland, appeared on the inaugural edition of “Face the State” on WBNS-TV and occasionally reports for “PBS Newshour”. She’s often called to moderate debates, including the Columbus Metropolitan Club’s Issue 3/legal marijuana debate and its pre-primary mayoral debate, and the City Club of Cleveland’s US Senate debate in 2012.
Karen Kasler
Contact Karen at 614/578-6375 or at kkasler@statehousenews.org.
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