The Alaska Department of Health is looking for a new director of public health after former Director Heidi Hedberg was tapped to serve as the state’s commissioner of health.
The health director serves as the chief health strategist for the state, helping to inform and advise Gov. Mike Dunleavy and his cabinet members in concert with the state’s Chief Medical Officer Anne Zink.
Responsibilities include overseeing programmatic and operational functions related to public health, including programs focused on chronic disease prevention, epidemiology, health analytics, injury prevention, laboratories, maternal and child health, public health nursing, rural and community health systems, the State Medical Examiner’s Office, substance misuse and addiction prevention, and vital records.
The post comes with considerable responsibilities, including leading statewide operations and overseeing more than 500 employees, nine health sections and a budget of roughly $900 million.
Applicants should be able to apply public health principles and methods for promoting healthy lifestyles, researching disease and injury prevention, and detecting, preventing, and responding to infectious diseases.
They should also understand the organization financial processes and be able to build and manage and evaluate the division’s workforce.
Compensation is about 100,000 a year.
The deadline to apply is 5 p.m. on Dec. 23. For more information, click here.
