UPDATE: Duwve Withdraws from Consideration to Lead ODH

Updated 8:34 p.m.
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Dr. Joan Duwve has withdrawn from consideration to be the new director of the Ohio Department of Health.

Gov. Mike DeWine made the initial announcement that she would lead the agency during his press briefing Thursday. A brief statement from the governor’s office issued around 8:30 p.m. Thursday said Duwve withdrew for personal reasons.

The search for a permanent leader of the agency will continue; it has been led by interim director Lance Himes since Dr. Amy Acton resigned about three months ago.

An Ohio native, Duwve most recently worked as director of public health with the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control. Before that, she served as an associate dean of practice for the Indiana University Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health and developed and directed the ECHO Center to train providers in rural communities to treat patients with complex conditions. Duwve also served Indiana Governors Mitch Daniels, Mike Pence and Eric Holcomb, as the chief medical officer with the Indiana State Department of Health and as medical director for the Department’s Division of Public Health and Preparedness.

A graduate of North Olmstead High School, Duwve earned a baccalaureate in international studies, French from Ohio State University, a master;s of public health from the University of Michigan. After earning a doctorate of medicine from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, she started her career in family practice in Lapel, Ind.

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