Indiana health leader Jennifer Sullivan to phase down
Dr. Jennifer Sullivan, secretary of the Indiana Relatives and Social Services Administration and a single of the key gamers in the state’s pandemic reaction, is stepping down.
The longest person to serve in that publish in the agency’s 30-12 months heritage, Sullivan is leaving to consider a occupation in the non-public sector in North Carolina, Gov. Eric Holcomb introduced in a information release Wednesday.
Dr. Dan Rusyniak, the administration’s main medical officer, will acquire her area as of Aug. 1.
Holcomb praised Sullivan for her assistance.
“Jennifer Sullivan has dedicated herself to strengthening the social and human needs Hoosiers are confronted with each working day,” Gov. Holcomb claimed. “Secretary Sullivan tackled some of the most elaborate challenges our condition has at any time dealt with and identified new innovative approaches to supply improved outcomes.”
Sullivan’s new position
Sullivan, also an unexpected emergency medicine physician at Riley Healthcare facility for Little ones, will come to be senior vice president of strategic functions for Atrium Health, a healthcare system based mostly in Charlotte that consists of 37 hospitals and Wake Forest University of Medicine.
Atrium Health govt president Ken Haynes said in an emailed assertion that Sullivan’s experiences in general public services will position her to get the job done to strengthen health plan.
“Secretary Sullivan is a unique talent,” mentioned Haynes, also president of the Charlotte Area for the business. “Her vast knowledge in public health aligns carefully with our ‘for all’ mission, serving all those who are underserved.”
Appointed Relatives and Social Services Administration secretary in 2017, Sullivan also served as deputy condition health commissioner less than then Indiana Point out Health Commissioner Dr. Jerome Adams. In that posture, she aided lead the state’s response to the Scott County HIV outbreak and establish Indiana’s to start with needle exchange software.
Healthy Indiana Strategy and other assignments
For the duration of her 4-plus yrs as the administration’s head, she oversaw a 10-calendar year extension of the Healthy Indiana System, coordinated SNAP advantages, and was a person of the state’s most superior-profile cupboard users, appearing routinely on press conferences with Gov. Eric Holcomb and Indiana Condition Health Commissioner Dr. Kris Box.
But her tenure did not arrive with out controversy. Sullivan came underneath hearth for making an attempt to implement perform demands for folks on the Healthy Indiana Program. A pending federal lawsuit troubles the Gateway to Get the job done application.
Healthy Indiana Program controversy:Point out quickly suspends work prerequisite
Though Sullivan reported in a statement that departing was complicated, she additional she hopes to have a direct good influence on the life of thousands and thousands of individuals in her new part.
“In my career, I have been blessed with fantastic chances to progress health in company to other individuals,” reported Sullivan. “While it’s complicated to go away these a satisfying job, I sense a calling that I’ve decided on to comply with.”
Dan Rusyniak stepping in
Rusyniak, who tactics medicine one day a week at Eskenazi Hospital, sales opportunities the state’s COVID-19 response, overseeing extensive-expression care and nursing properties in the course of the time. Before joining the administration, Rusyniak was medical director at the Indiana Poison Manage Heart.
Through the pandemic, Rusyniak confirmed both equally character and management expertise, Holcomb explained.
“He was steady under stress and normally dependent his decisions on the total health and well-being of Hoosiers. “Dr. Dan” will seamlessly action into this new purpose and proceed to provide some of our most susceptible with that identical compassion and steady hand.”
Get hold of IndyStar reporter Shari Rudavsky at shari.rudavsky@indystar.com. Observe her on Fb and on Twitter: @srudavsky.