Pictured: Wendy Braund, MD, MPH, MSEd, FACPM, appointed as Pennsylvania's acting interim physician general. Braund formerly served as Pitt Public Health's director of the Center for Public Health Practice and associate dean for practice. (Dan Zampogna, Commonwealth Media Svcs)
AP — Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday said he would elevate two officials involved in his administration's response to the coronavirus to replace the departing Dr. Rachel Levine as his health secretary and physician general. Wolf said he intends to nominate a deputy chief of staff, Alison Beam, to take over as secretary of the Department of Health. Wolf, meanwhile, elevated Dr. Wendy Braund, the Covid-19 response director for the department, to acting interim physician general.
“Wendy brings years of public health expertise and a commitment to improving public health practice in Pennsylvania to the role of Interim Acting Physician General,” Wolf said. “Wendy has been an integral part of our COVID-19 pandemic response efforts, and that experience will be an asset in this role.”
Braund is the current COVID-19 response director for the Department of Health. Before that, she held multiple leadership positions at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, including director of the Center for Public Health Practice and associate dean for Practice and a professor of health policy and management.
She’s also spent much of her career in public health roles, including a stint as the Wyoming State Health Officer and the Public Health Administrator for the Wyoming Department of Health, as well as multiple positions within the U.S. Department of Health and Humans Services.
Levine's last day was to be Friday, as she prepares to become President Joe Biden's nominee to be his assistant secretary of health.
See full stories:
1/25/2021