Child health the focus of local hire
Allegheny County selects new health department director
Dr. Debra Bogen will take the helm of the Allegheny County Health Department May 4 during a challenging time, with local air pollution, opioid and infant mortality problems already big public health issues, and COVID-19 looming on the near horizon.
Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald announced at a news conference Wednesday morning that Dr. Bogen, a Regent Square resident, would become the health department’s new director. And the county Board of Health unanimously approved the appointment Wednesday afternoon.
“This is an incredible opportunity to serve the community,” said Dr. Bogen, 57, who is the vice chair for education in the Department of Pediatrics with UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and who described herself as “a community advocate for children’s health.”
Dr. Bogen earned her medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine and completed post-graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. One of the founders of the Mid-Atlantic
Mothers’ Milk Bank, she has been an advocate for issues of maternal and child health.
Dr. Bogen replaces Dr. Karen Hacker, who left for a position with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention nine months ago.
Dr. Bogen said the county must
improve its lagging infant mortality rate and said air quality is a “huge, important issue” that affects childhood asthma rates. And while she hopes to work cooperatively with industry, her goal is to improve air quality.
“I’m here as health director,” she said, “and I think we all want clean air and healthy families and healthy children.”
While there are no cases of COVID-19, the new coronavirus, in Allegheny County as yet, Dr. Bogen said she is already reviewing daily notices from the CDC, and the health department would stay on top of the pandemic.
Mr. Fitzgerald said the search committee conducted a nationwide hunt for a new director but selected someone local who knows the county system.
“We have many challenges ahead of us, but her focus on health equity and addressing those health issues where rates are racially disparate will allow us to continue moving towards a county that works for all,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “Just as importantly, she is energized and excited to jump into this position and serve our community. We are delighted to have her.”
The search committee was co-chaired by Dr. Edie Shapira and Grant Oliphant, CEO of the Heinz Endowments, with the help of search firm, Krauthamer & Associates.
Dr. Shapira, also a member of the board of health, said Dr. Bogen’s decades of working Pittsburgh have produced strong partnerships with a variety of public health agencies, adding she is “strong, brave, strategic, and personally delightful.”
Reactions to Dr. Bogen’s appointment were generally welcoming. The Breathe Project, a collaborative of 39 environmental, academic and health organizations, issued a statement highlighting her experience working to improve childhood asthma rates in disadvantaged and industrial communities.
“We look forward to serving as a useful community partner to address this and many other air quality and public health challenges with Dr. Bogen and her team,” said Matt Mehalik, Breathe Project executive director.
Zachary Barber, air advocate for PennEnvironment, a statewide advocacy organization, issued a statement applauding Dr. Bogen’s record of protecting child health, but urging strong efforts to rein in sources of pollution.
“Dr. Bogen is taking charge of the Health Department at a critical moment. Pittsburghers are looking to her for bold, swift action to tackle the industrial air pollution that makes Allegheny County one of the most dangerous places in the country to breathe,” Mr. Barber said. “PennEnvironment looks forward to working with Dr. Bogen to make clean air in Allegheny County a top priority.”
Mr. Barber said the new director should make it a priority to end the backlog on Clean Air Act permits for major pollution sources in the county, levy stiff fines for air violations and shut down the worst repeat offenders.
County Controller Chelsa Wagner criticized the process used to select Dr. Bogen.
“While having in place a new Allegheny County Health Department director is certainly desirable given the critical challenges — globally and locally — that we face in the arena of public health, the more than ninemonth period since Dr. Karen Hacker’s resignation announcement should have included robust public input and involvement and, ultimately, a public vetting of candidates under consideration,” Ms. Wagner said in a press statement.
She said the process was less than transparent and that recent improvements in air quality came about only after “scrutiny from my office through its performance audits and subsequent demands from the community.”
“A critical personnel decision affecting every resident of Allegheny County — especially the most vulnerable — should not have been made behind closed doors,” Ms. Wagner’s statement said. “Neither our elected representatives on County Council nor local public health advocates have vetted this appointment.”
The state Department of Health must confirm her appointment, but that is viewed as a formality.