Thomas Dobbs | Jackson Free Press | Jackson, MS

Thomas Dobbs

Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Health

Photo courtesy Mississippi Department of Health Photo by Mississippi Department of Health

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The Mississippi State Department of Health has a new leader.

The department says in a news release Thursday that the Board of Health is naming Dr. Thomas Dobbs as the state health officer. It's a job he has held on an interim basis since Dr. Mary Currier retired Oct. 31. She had been the health officer for almost nine years.

Dobbs is a board-certified infectious diseases and internal medicine physician.

He previously worked for the state Department of Health as a district health officer and state epidemiologist. He then worked in Laurel as a physician and vice president for quality and chief medical officer of South Central Regional Medical Center.

Dobbs returned to the state department as deputy state health officer before moving into the top job.

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